March 18, 1997

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Ottawa (ON) -- Bill C-32, An Act to Amend the Copyright Act, will return to the House of Commons fro further debate, at report stage, on Thursday. Having been extensively debated in committee, the ill has been altered to outlaw the importation of used texts.

This amendment to Bill C-32 could potentially increase the amount a student spends on text books by $1,600 over the course of a degree.

Matthew Hough, the National Director of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, stated that “the affect this amendment will have on the cost of education is horrific. The savings students achieve by buying and selling used texts is, in some cases, enough to pay for an entire semester of tuition and fee. This amendment is ridiculous.”

The debate over the importation of used texts has centred around the protection of the interests of Canadian publishers. American publishers would in fact be the greatest beneficiaries from this motion, because students would be forced to buy new texts - texts that are published by American companies.

It was noted by publishing companies during debates in committee that a distribution system in Canada for used texts is not viable due to the number of students in Canada and the transportation costs involved. As such, campus bookstores import from, and export to, distributors in the United States and in France.

Students take advantage of used texts to lower up front costs of purchasing books and by selling books back to campus stores. These books are then exported to distributors in the United States and France. At the moment Canada has a net balance of trade in used textbooks - that is, more used text books are sold by students than bought. As the trade of textbooks is a two way street, if the importation of used texts is stopped, then the export trade would also end.

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