SALES POINTS OF DAILY PRESS AND MAGAZINES (Advisory opinion)
PRESS RELEASE
The Italian Competition Authority submitted to the Speakers of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies and the Prime Minister, an advisory opinion on the draft law on the new regulation of sales points of dailies and magazines.
In the Authority's opinion, the draft law above contributed significantly to expand the sales network of press products and modify the current sales point planning system. In particular, the draft law provided for the start of a trial phase lasting 18 months and regarding the sale of newspapers, magazines and journals at outlets different from the authorized newsagents. New sales points would include booksellers, tobacconists, service stations, bars, retail shops and specialized outlets with respect to the sale of specialized press.
However, the Authority noted that certain provisions could reduce and even cause substantial prejudice to the process of opening and expanding the sales network. In fact certain rules stated that outlets which were alternative to newsagents and took part in the trial phase had to ensure equal conditions to dailies and magazines.
Such an obligation bound dealers over to display in their sales points all the requiring dailies and periodicals. This situation seemed to be too onerous and could discourage potential operators from setting the new activity at the sales points which would participate in the trial phase and would be directed by the new regulation, even if the obligation of equal conditions involved the possibility of returning all the unsold goods, as well as newsagents.
In addition, sales points non specialized in selling editorial products should utilize a very limited space to display dailies and periodicals.
The Authority felt that new sales points were not likely to compensate costs relating to the obligation above, in virtue of the benefits derived from the possibility of returning unsold goods.
The Authority was aware that editorial distribution had characteristics considered as public service with regards to the protection of editorial pluralism and the consequent necessity to ensure consumer access to all dailies and periodicals. However, the Staff said that the above conditions could be reached by the application of contracts setting different combinations of costs and incentives to the various distribution channels, and not by imposing obligations on the new non specialized sales points.
In other words, it would be possible to provide a system in which the sales points bound by the obligation of ensuring equal conditions would enjoy current terms and, in particular, the chance of returning unsold goods, while obligation-free sales points could be subject to less favourable terms.
In this way, the risk of impeding access of new entrants and, therefore, making unhelpful the scope of the new regulation, would be reduced.
Lastly, it is to be noted that, between the guidelines of the reorganization of the sector, Section 3, subsection 1, of the above draft law, provided that non-exclusive sales points were authorized on the basis of the density of population, the urbanistic and social characteristics of the areas to be served, the quantity of newspaper and periodical sales over the last two years, the access conditions and the presence of other non-exclusive sales points. Additionally, Section 3 set the reformulation of the municipal plans of newsagents location.
In a previous opinion submitted to the Parliament, the Authority had already highlighted the need to remove the planning of sales points, on the assumption that only this action could guarantee an effective liberalization of the sector.
The Authority felt that granting authorization to sell dailies and periodicals should not be subject to criteria related to demand, which are defined by law, given that optimal number of operators had to result from effective competition.