Proposition 53K1710

Proposition de résolution relative à la distribution des journaux et périodiques.

General information ¶

Author

Vooruit Ann Vanheste

Submission date

Aug. 8, 2011

Official page

Visit

Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

distributive trades competition newspaper resolution of parliament serial publication

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

Groen CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP ∉ Open Vld N-VA LDD MR VB

Contact form ¶

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Discussion ¶

May 16, 2013 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

Karine Lalieux, the rapporteur, refers to this in her written report.

Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Secretary of State, colleagues, we have gladly and constructively contributed to the present resolution, because we give the independent newspaper stores a warm heart. The print media sector is under pressure due to digitalisation and the Internet and the fact that other players, such as merchants and gas stations, enter the market.

There is also the conjuncture. A newspaper store generally earns 25 to 30 percent of its revenue from the sale of newspapers and magazines and the rest of the revenue comes from the sale of cigarettes, gambling such as Lotto, writing gear, wish cards and candy. It’s a tough stake, because some beggars start their round already at 3 a.m. Here you can watch people whose store has opened at 5.00 this morning and which closes at 17.00.

A hearing was held on the issue, which was mainly attended by representatives of the industry and the distributor AMP. AMP is the distributor of newspapers and magazines, which some time ago doubled its distribution costs to about 250 euros per month. AMP was taken on the grass not only because of the tariff increase, but also because of the problems with returns. That is right.

That problem, however, is seen by traders as an inconvenience alongside the other problems. The distribution costs of 250 euros per month mean for the merchants 8 euros per day. For that amount, it is difficult for them to get and bring back the newspapers and magazines themselves.

What are the main problems according to traders? First, I would mention the inequality of treatment by publishers, who offer newspapers and magazines by post with discounts of 30 to 50 % and who also give an iPad and a cookpot, as one newspaper offered last week. For the customer, this is a welcome gift, while merchants receive a commission of 23 to 25%.

Let me give a few examples of the unequal treatment by the publishers. A daily newspaper store sold a trial subscription for three months, but then an annual subscription is offered by post and the daily newspaper store falls out of shoot. A newspaper dealer saw a round of 600 customers over a year period with 200 pieces falling back through the publisher’s campaigns via mail.

In addition to this inequal treatment of publishers, there is the distribution of bpost, which annually receives 300 million euros of government support, including for ordering newspapers and magazines.

In order to get out of the impasse, consultation with all stakeholders is necessary. A number of thinking tracks should be discussed. There must be a level playing field, which is handled by all publishers, and a postal subscription or a subscription through the newspaper store puts on equal footing. Equal conditions therefore for everyone, for those with a subscription and for those who go to the store.

There should also be a gentlemen’s agreement, where publishers respect the shopkeeper who offers their customers. Publishers should also involve newspaper traders in their campaigns and benefit actions.

Through an amendment, we have cooperated in a triangular consultation between the representative organization of the sector, the publishers of magazines and newspapers and the distributors responsible for the distribution at the points of sale.

I think that the tensions between traders and AMP should be eliminated in advance.

The coordination of that consultation would be in the hands of the FOD Economy, according to the draft resolution.

Our amendment was almost literally adopted by the majority. We had counted on some politeness to have us sign with.

The proposal also provides for a six-month status of the consultation and a reporting to the House of Representatives. We hope that it does not become a dead letter and that the text is not non-binding. The appointment is already listed in my agenda for November.

Mr. Uyttersprot has already described the situation very clearly. There is clearly a problem in the newspaper dealer sector. Revenue is falling. The sales of press, tobacco and gambling are declining year after year. The causes of this decline are very diverse. Fewer consumers still buy press articles, including through the digital newspaper offer. Competition with, among other goods houses is increasing. More and more readers also receive their newspaper or magazine via a postal subscription, which is often much cheaper than a subscription at the newspaper dealer.

In addition to that generally declining trend, the newspaper trading sector is also facing the problems it is experiencing with AMP. In 2009, AMP unilaterally changed its return system. A study conducted by the FOD Economie also shows that the return system shows a number of shortcomings, causing the newspaper sellers to suffer financial losses. AMP also unilaterally doubled the transportation costs, causing the newspaper dealers to suddenly pay much more each year.

So it is clear that there is something wrong in the sector. The question is what can be done about it. Initially, we think it is up to the sector itself to find a solution to the problems it is facing. However, it is exactly where the shoe is knocking. During the various hearings, we have all been able to conclude that the different parties simply no longer talk to each other. Dialogue is the only way to get out of the impasse. Therefore, the draft resolution was submitted.

The text asks the government to organize a consultation between the newspaper dealers, publishers and distributors in order to find a solution to the problems. For CD&V it was very important that distributors were also involved in the consultation. In addition, it also seemed to us a must that a representative of a FOD participates in the consultation, in order to act as a mediator. In order to prevent the consultation from resulting in nothing, on our request, a six-month report on progress to the Business Committee has also been included.

It is now up to the sector itself to seize the opportunity for consultation. I think it is an opportunity to ensure the viability of the sector in the future through dialogue. We will continue to follow the file from the committee for business, including through the six-month state of affairs, which we will receive. However, if there are no solutions or no progress is made, then of course we will not fail to take legislative initiatives ourselves. Let us hope that this is not necessary and that the stakeholders themselves will find a solution through dialogue.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Secretary of State, dear colleagues, as has just been mentioned, the situation faced by the sector of the distribution of the press in the broad sense, in particular by press sellers and independent bookstores, has become difficult.

This sector undergoes several developments: the competition of online information in the first place, and for bookstores in particular, the availability on the internet of the products of the National Lottery; the sale of tobacco products that could decrease further if they are subject to more compelling legislation such as the uniformization of the packaging of cigarette packages; the situation of quasi-monopoly of AMP as a distributor in our country, and the competition of large surfaces.

Thus, the profit margins of these bookstores, of these self-employed, decreased as skin of sorrow, with as a consequence a disappearance of 18.5% of them between 2005 and 2012.

The different parties concerned by the text that concerns us, namely the professional associations of press vendors, on the one hand, and the AMP group, on the other, are in the midst of a judicial struggle that is still unresolved and in which we do not have to intervene. However, through the various committee hearings, we have been informed more precisely of the difficulties encountered by each of the parties and also of the necessary interdependence of these business partners if we want to guarantee our citizens a broad access to numerous editions of daily and periodicals.

Beyond the economic aspect, let’s not forget the social aspect of bookstores, which are usually nearby shops.

For the reasons I mentioned earlier, my group supported the amendment aiming in particular to look for ways to increase the profitability of newspaper stores and to engage distributors in reflection.

The objective pursued by the resolution thus amended is essentially the establishment of a consultation committee composed of all stakeholders and a representative of the SPF Economy in order to assess the difficulties encountered and to consider the future of this sector. It is also planned that the Chamber will be kept informed of the results of this consultation in a half-year manner.

While it is essential to preserve access to information and media for all through the distribution of newspapers and magazines, the future and reconversion of the press distribution sector remain at the heart of concerns.

Newspapers play an important role in our social life. They are often the last village shops that remain in a small village or municipality. However, they are increasingly under pressure.

In 2011, I had already submitted this proposal for a resolution on the distribution of newspapers and magazines. At that time, there was an urgent need for consultation with the parties involved.

There are several reasons why the newspaper dealers find it difficult, despite the fact that they beat for many hours and work hard. There is more and more competition from the supermarkets and the internet subscriptions. They only have small margins on newspapers and small profits on smoking goods and gambling. In short, they do not need big disasters to see their case go overhead.

Among other things, the dealers of newspapers are deeply troubled by the cooperation with AMP, the press distribution company that distributes about 90% of the newspapers and magazines in Belgium and thus occupies a monopoly position.

For example, AMP increased transportation costs by 112 % and also the return scheme for unsold newspapers and magazines is problematic.

The Economic Inspectorate ordered a neutral investigation and the result was quite bad. At 38 out of 50 points of sale, that is 76 %, a stock problem was identified, in the sense that there was a difference between what was accepted and what was claimed to have been accepted.

Even among traders who carried their unsold goods themselves to AMP centers, errors were found. There is a problem with the automatic counting system, which AMP itself admits. This has significant financial implications for newspaper traders.

Newspapers are very difficult to survive. As I mentioned earlier, there are electronic newspapers, there is less smoking and the number of National Lottery sales points has increased, making the pieces of the cake for the newspaper stores smaller.

There is only a mess between AMP and the newspaper stores. In March, the committee for business organized a hearing, after which we had to conclude that we have not made much progress with this.

Only the conviction became stronger that something had to happen and that it was urgently necessary to organize consultations between the newspaper stores, the distribution companies and the publishers, where the problems of the sector can be put on the table and hopefully a reasonable solution can come for everyone.

Colleagues, I would like to tell you the following, I have already read it in the committee, they are some emergency cries of traders who really don’t see it.

First quote: “Our decision is as follows: as the loss is growing and it takes a lot of effort to fight against AMP for us right, we have decided to keep up for another three years, otherwise we will lay down the books.”

Second quote: “All help is welcome to save our sector. I myself did a large round of newspapers at night for 24 years, while my wife was in the store all day. Because of my illness, I was forced to stop everything at the beginning of this year. The shop has since been on behalf of my wife. Now that the revenues of my tour have fallen away, we realize too well how bad our sector is. It is fighting to survive. After 25 years of work, we should have been in there for a long time.”

Third quote: “We see no future anymore. We have invested a lot and do our work with pleasure, but if we close our doors massively in the future, we can go nowhere. We have no right to accommodation, no income anymore and no future. And all this by our own employers. We have no alternative. Please help us.”

Those are three quotes, but I get a lot of them every week.

Colleagues, when one receives such emergency calls, the heart is not in the right place if one does not hand those people. So we ask the government to make an assessment of the newspaper traders sector in the light of the challenges and difficulties faced by the sector.

We also ask for a consultation between newspaper dealers, publishers, distribution companies and a representation of the FOD Economie.

We also ask to explore the possibilities to increase the revenue and profitability of the newspaper traders. Several pistes should be examined, such as the expansion of the product range, revenue from sales of newspapers and magazines, including on sale through alternative distribution channels, cooperation with other distributors, as well as the role of bpost.

We also request that every six months a state of affairs and initiatives to be developed be forwarded to the members of the Committee for Business, question of having some control. This makes it clear that we have understood the urgency of the sector. Today we are taking a first step in the right direction to reach a well-considered, proportionate solution where all stakeholders involved are heard.

It can happen that liberals and socialists work together. I must honestly confess that in the beginning I was not ⁇ warm for the proposal of Mrs Vanheste, but as a member of Parliament one must also occasionally have the humility to get out of his comfort zone.

With a small prospect of the territory and the sector of the newspaper dealers, I can tell you that socialists, Christian Democrats and liberals were equally outraged. I have to add that both parties, distributors and traders, have been involved in a legal dispute. This limits somewhat the power of Parliament; we cannot replace judges.

Nevertheless, I look forward to following the footsteps of the Economic Inspection. In fact, as liberals — and others, I suppose, too — we cannot tolerate that in an economic sector malversations take place and the free market can not feel its beneficial effect there, in other words, that some abuse their dominant position.

Colleague Vanheste, it is very good that we have included in the resolution that the government will act as a mediator. The government does not only need to mediate in social conflicts; it can also do so when two economic actors lose sight of the fact that they need each other to continue to exist.

I would add, colleagues, that a not to be neglected element in this file is the subsidies of bpost. Why do you think newspapers can float with iPad subscriptions, cooking pots, or trips to distant or not distant destinations? Because the post can offer the same services well below the market price and that because bpost receives a substantial grant. For this reason, of course, I can also support the resolution, not least because it includes that the government will work on a thorough assessment of the impact of the subsidies of bpost on the situation of the newspaper dealers and the distribution channels.

For all these reasons, colleagues, I am therefore pleased to inform you that, in this regard, socialists, Christian Democrats, liberals and nationalists — it may be said — have the same objective and have adopted this resolution. They have assigned the government with a clear and important mission.

Mr. Speaker, I did not have the pleasure of participating in the committee’s work on the subject; that is why I wanted to speak today.

Indeed, this ⁇ shocking situation has existed for a long time. It divides the bookstores and the actors of the distribution, more specifically the AMP, which benefits from a dominant position. I fully agree with the analysis of the colleagues: it is unacceptable that this situation continues and that librarians face such a complicated situation.

So we supported, through my colleague Ronny Balcaen, this resolution in committee. Indeed, the government must engage in mediation, in the search for a solution, in the regulation of the sector and in the activity between bookstores and distributors.

Nevertheless, I will draw attention to the need to measure the impact of regulations and laws that we have or have not adopted, but that have direct consequences on bookstores and that remain related to their activities.

The press, as well as its broadcasters, is damaged by the computerization and the decrease in the number of paper newspapers sold. It is also affected by the way the distribution is executed. Nevertheless, among their activities, it is still worth highlighting the sale of public books, as works of great success, which they supplement in a complementary way to the newspapers.

Press-distributing bookshops as well as bookshops selling publications call for measures to limit the reduction on the price of books and to allow them to live from the book trade with a sufficient profit margin to survive.

Particular agreements were made in Flanders. The Federal Parliament has documents deposited for years. Failure to take action leads to a difficult situation.

This morning, I read in the press that "AMP was put at the disposal of bookstores to help them diversify their products, thus their revenues through various activities to develop". I find it quite "strong of coffee" that this AMP, which fails to find an agreement respecting the bookstores, offers them its help to diversify their activities in other sales registers, in which, in principle, they do not have to intervene.

This resolution, I hope, will allow the State to interfere in these relations and better take into account the difficulties faced by bookstores. Thus, they will be able to retain their role, which is what we hope within Ecolo-Groen.

This resolution will also ensure the presence of bookstores for the dissemination of the written press, which remains a ⁇ important medium of information since it addresses all citizens.

I was told that Mrs. Lilly arrived.

I would like to apologize for my delay. I would like to speak briefly about this proposal for a resolution resulting from the hearings organized by our committee.

We are all very aware of the difficulties faced today by the library industry. If these difficulties are not new, we now know that they are growing. One of the major problems lies in the continuous conflict between the AMP and the press broadcasters. Furthermore, the hearings organized by our committee demonstrated this intrusion by the absurdity since the operators were surrounded by their respective lawyers. The House of Representatives is in no way a court.

On the other hand, dear colleagues, if we do not have to get involved in a legal conflict, we have the opportunity to act and worry about the difficulties encountered by the whole sector. This is why amendments have been submitted by the majority that aim precisely to expand the initial requests in order to analyze all the problems encountered by bookstores and the entire sector. However, such an analysis makes no sense if all of the stakeholders continue to look at each other as a fain dog or talk to each other through interposed lawyers. That is why this resolution also calls on the government to arrange a consultation with the entire sector: the press broadcaster sector, publishers, distributors and a representative of SPF Economy who will act as a mediator.

This resolution was unanimously voted – I would like to emphasize this and congratulate Mr. Vanheste – is a clear signal of support to the press broadcaster sector, to the bookstores that play an important role in the economic fabric, but also and above all a social role in the lives of our neighborhoods, our villages and our cities.