Swiss Government Says “Nein” to Net Book Agreement

By Carmen 

Swissinfo reports that The Swiss cabinet has rejected calls to maintain the net book agreement (NBA) in Swiss-German regions, which allows publishers to fix the price of books. According to the book industry, the move will destabilise the market in German-speaking parts of the country and cause many small bookshops to close. “This is bad news,” said Jacques Scherrer, secretary-general of the Swiss Association of Distributors, Editors and Libraries. “The government hasn’t recognised the status of the book as a cultural item and its decision risks destabilising the book market in German-speaking regions.”

All they have to do is look to the steaming mess that is currently the UK book industry and how the removal of the NBA has, in part, led to chain instability, the rise of supermarkets as powerhouses and serious (and often unnecessary) price wars…