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With the renewal of the state of emergency until February 14th, the Government decided to maintain the ban on the sale of books, contrary to what would have been the “will of the President of the Republic” and “various parties with parliamentary seats”, according to the Portuguese Association of Publishers and Booksellers (APEL). In an opinion article for Expresso, Tito Rendas, TMT & IP consultant at CCA, talks about the need to reconsider this ban on sale in supermarkets and other establishments open to the public.
"It does not matter to the authors, reviewers, designers, paginators, and translators whether the books are sold in a bookstore, in a supermarket, or in a gas station. What matters is that the book is sold", explains the CCA consultant.
Regarding this measure adopted by the Executive, Tito Rendas explains that "it is a disturbing measure for several reasons, but above all because of the lack of understanding it reveals. First, the lack of understanding of the level of digital literacy and of confidence in electronic commerce among the Portuguese population (...) second, the lack of understanding about the extension of the book chain (...) third, the lack of understanding of competition in the book market. Books that are sold in supermarkets can be all or almost all found in bookstores. But the reverse is not true (...)".
"Groucho Marx once said that 'outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read'. It is so that we can all confine in good company that the books should be able to be sold. Everywhere", underlines the consultant.
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- Expresso