D-8.1, r. 2 - Regulation respecting the accreditation of Québec distributors and the method of calculating sales prices

Updated to 12 December 2023

This document has official status.

chapter D-8.1, r. 2

Regulation respecting the accreditation of Québec distributors and the method of calculating sales prices

Act respecting the development of Québec firms in the book industry

(chapter D-8.1, ss. 5, 15, 17, 20 and 38).

DIVISION I INTERPRETATION AND APPLICATION

§ 1 . — Definitions

1. For the purposes of the Act respecting the development of Québec firms in the book industry (chapter D-8.1) and the regulations made for its application,

“basic discount” means the percentage of the list price or net price of a book in its country of origin that a distributor receives from his supplier;

“discount” means the percentage of the Canadian list price of a book that a distributor grants to an accredited bookstore or sales outlet and deducts from the list price in order to establish the price that must be paid by the accredited bookstore or the sales outlet;

“tabulated statement” means the factor by which the list price or net price of a book in its country of origin is multiplied to establish the maximum price of the book in Canadian currency.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 2, s. 1.

2. In this Regulation, unless the context indicates otherwise,

“accredited bookstore” means a bookstore accredited under the Regulation respecting the accreditation of bookstores (chapter D-8.1, r. 4);

“median” means the middle value between the minimum and maximum value of a currency in a given bracket;

“sales outlet” means a place or an establishment other than an accredited bookstore where books are sold to the public.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 2, s. 2.

§ 2 . — Application

3. This Regulation does not apply, in respect of accreditation, to government departments, agencies or mandataries or to the bodies listed in the Schedule to the Act. Legal persons and partnerships in which a government department or body holds stocks, shares or assets are also exempted from its application.

In addition, this Regulation does not apply, in respect of accreditation, to publishers governed by the Regulation respecting the accreditation of publishers in Québec (chapter D-8.1, r. 3) who distribute their production themselves, if the accredited publishers fully comply at all times with the requirements of this Regulation and the Regulation respecting the acquisition of books by certain persons from accredited brookstores (chapter D-8.1, r. 1).

Notwithstanding the above, this Regulation applies to a publisher who distributes the production of another publisher in addition to his own.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 2, s. 3; O.C. 350-98, s. 1.

DIVISION II ELIGIBILITY FOR ACCREDITATION

4. In addition to the stipulations set forth in sections 15 and 16 of the Act respecting the development of Québec firms in the book industry (chapter D-8.1), a person who carries on distribution activities in Québec, on his own behalf, must, if he wishes to become accredited, comply with the following norms and conditions:

(1)  have his head office or principal establishment in Québec;

(2)  in the case of a partnership, be registered with the enterprise registrar;

(3)  if a legal person, a company, a cooperative association, a savings and credit union, or a caisse d’entraide économique, be constituted either under the Statutes of Canada or the Statutes of Québec;

(4)  prove and certify that every person controlling the distribution firm or owning preferred shares, debentures, bonds or any debt allowing the effective control of the publishing house is eligible for accreditation under sections 15 and 16 of the Act; such proof is not required in the case of a debt owed to a Canadian chartered bank or an institution registered with the Autorité des marchés financiers if the debt is not secured or is guaranteed by persons referred to in sections 15 and 16 of the Act;

(5)  produce the financial statements of the establishment and, where applicable, the consolidated financial statements.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 2, s. 4; O.C. 2798-84, s. 1.

5. A person described in section 4 must also prove that he:

(1)  supplies accredited bookstores;

(2)  takes steps to distribute or endeavours to distribute books by Québec authors;

(3)  provides accredited bookstores and sales outlets in each region with, where possible, sales representation and stock turnover.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 2, s. 5.

6. A person described in section 4 automatically undertakes to comply with and meet the following norms and conditions at all times:

(1)  follow up within a reasonable time all book orders for which he ensures exclusive distribution, whatever the origin of the books, subject to the Act and the Regulation respecting the acquisition of books by certain persons from accredited bookstores (chapter D-8.1, r. 1);

(2)  notify customers as soon as possible of any delay in filling the order or of the impossibility of filling it completely or partially;

(3)  provide for storage and provide information on the stocks and titles he distributes;

(4)  guarantee efficient and rapid means of distribution;

(5)  not take part in any collusion, exercise any undue influence or be involved in trading of favours, and avoid any conflict of interest in his relations with an institution or agency mentioned in the Act, or with its directors, mandataries or representatives; for an accredited distributor to also be a bookstore owner does not constitute a conflict of interest.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 2, s. 6.

7. A person who requests a certificate of accreditation must provide, with his application and annually thereafter, a sworn declaration in which he undertakes to fully and at all times comply with the Act and regulations and must certify that he complies with this Regulation.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 2, s. 7.

DIVISION III ISSUE OF THE CERTIFICATE OF ACCREDITATION

8. A holder of a certificate of accreditation must keep the statistics and data on his sales as well as his overall book sales to accredited bookstores up to date.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 2, s. 8.

9. The holder of a certificate of accreditation is not obliged to comply with paragraph 1 of section 5 or with paragraphs 1 and 2 of section 6 in respect of an accredited bookstore if the holder can prove with supporting vouchers that the bookstore has not respected the normal deadline for the payment of its purchases.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 2, s. 9.

DIVISION IV EXTENSION OF ACCREDITATION

10. Accreditation is non-assignable and may not be transferred without authorization from the Minister of Culture, Communications and the Status of Women.

If a holder of a certificate of accreditation goes bankrupt and if the bankruptcy trustee decides to continue the activities of the holder and notifies the Minister thereof, the accreditation is extended and the trustee is required to fulfill all the obligations imposed by the Act and regulations.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 2, s. 10.

11. A certificate of accreditation issued for a set period or on a temporary basis and which has expired remains in force if an application for extension or renewal or an application for permanent accreditation is sent to the Minister on the form provided by the latter, at least 1 month before the certificate of accreditation expires.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 2, s. 11.

12. A holder of a certificate of accreditation must immediately notify the Minister in writing of the winding-up, closing or bankruptcy of the distributing firm.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 2, s. 12.

13. A holder of a certificate of accreditation must immediately notify the Minister in writing of any major contractual, financial, material, physical or territorial change within the distributing firm; failing to do so may cause the certificate of accreditation to be cancelled or suspended by the Minister.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 2, s. 13.

14. In addition to complying with the Act and this Regulation, a holder of a certificate of accreditation must, each year, not later than 6 months after the end of each fiscal period, without a notice or request to that effect, prepare, certify and give to the Minister a detailed report on the activities of the last fiscal period containing the following information and details correctly set forth:

(1)  the name and address of the head office or principal establishment of the distributing firm;

(2)  the names, addresses or citizenship of the owner or persons who own or control the distributing firm together with their share of the rights of ownership or the extent of their control;

(3)  the names, addresses and citizenship of the persons described in paragraph 4 of section 4 and the nature and value of their titles to property and evidences of indebtedness in the distributing firm;

(4)  the names, addresses and citizenship of the persons described in section 16.4 of the Act and of the directors and executive officers of the distributing firm;

(5)  the number of stocks or shares and their description, and the paid-up capital;

(6)  a list of shareholders and their addresses;

(7)  the financial statements of the distributing firm and, where applicable, the consolidated financial statements;

(8)  the number of accredited bookstores and sales outlets served by region;

(9)  the list of publishers for which distribution is provided;

(10)  the proportion that sales of books produced by Québec publishers is of total sales.

The annual report must be certified by the signature of the owner or 2 directors of the distributing firm.

The Minister must be immediately notified in writing of any major change in the annual report or in any of the requirements mentioned in section 4 made during the fiscal period.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 2, s. 14.

DIVISION V DETERMINATION OF SALES PRICES

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 2, Div. V; O.C. 350-98, s. 2.

15. This Division applies to every person referred to in section 5 of the Act, despite section 3.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 2, s. 15.

16. The discounts and tabulated statements applicable to the mode of computation of the sales price of books distributed in Québec by the persons referred to in section 15 are determined in Schedules A and B and apply to books from a country outside Canada, and to books produced under Canadian copyright but published outside Canada by the copyright holder in Canada.

However, where the value of a non-Canadian currency is less than that of Canadian currency, the person referred to in section 15 is not required to comply with the tabulated statement for the preceding bracket unless the value of the non-Canadian currency reaches the median of that bracket.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 2, s. 16.

DIVISION VI FINAL PROVISIONS

17. A document or report or information required pursuant to paragraph 5 of section 4 and sections 8 and 14 may be replaced by another official document certified true and that includes at least the information required by this Regulation.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 2, s. 17.

18. (Omitted).

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 2, s. 18.

SCHEDULE A

(s. 16)

TABULATED STATEMENTS

The foreign currency conversion rates used in these tabulated statements are those made public by the Bank of Montréal.

TABLE 1

                                         Tabulated statement to be used for setting 
                                         the maximum selling price of a book 
Value of French           Median         distributed in Québec where, in setting
franc (Fr.) in                           the retail price in Canadian dollars, the 
Canadian dollars                         retail price in the publisher’s trade list 
($) per bracket                          is used



0.1000 - 0.1199            0.11                           0.1523
0.1200 - 0.1399            0.13                           0.1800
0.1400 - 0.1599            0.15                           0.2077
0.1600 - 0.1799            0.17                           0.2354
0.1800 - 0.1999            0.19                           0.2631
0.2000 - 0.2199            0.21                           0.2908
0.2200 - 0.2399            0.23                           0.3185
0.2400 - 0.2599            0.25                           0.3462
0.2600 - 0.2799            0.27                           0.3739
0.2800 - 0.2999            0.29                           0.4016
0.3000 - 0.3199            0.31                           0.4293
0.3200 - 0.3399            0.33                           0.4570
0.3400 - 0.3599            0.35                           0.4847
0.3600 - 0.3799            0.37                           0.5124
0.3800 - 0.3999            0.39                           0.5401



TABLE 2



                                         Tabulated statement to be used for setting 
                                         the maximum selling price of a book 
Value of Belgian          Median         distributed in Québec where, in setting
franc (BF) in                            the retail price in Canadian dollars, the 
Canadian dollars                         retail price in the publisher’s trade list 
($) per bracket                          is used



0.015000 - 0.016990        0.016                          0.022160
0.017000 - 0.018990        0.018                          0.024930
0.019000 - 0.020990        0.020                          0.027700
0.021000 - 0.022990        0.022                          0.030470
0.023000 - 0.024990        0.024                          0.033240
0.025000 - 0.026990        0.026                          0.036010
0.027000 - 0.028990        0.028                          0.038780
0.029000 - 0.030990        0.030                          0.041550
0.031000 - 0.032990        0.032                          0.044320
0.033000 - 0.034990        0.034                          0.047090
0.035000 - 0.036990        0.036                          0.049860
0.037000 - 0.038990        0.038                          0.052630
0.039000 - 0.040990        0.040                          0.055400
0.041000 - 0.042990        0.042                          0.058170
0.043000 - 0.044990        0.044                          0.060940
0.045000 - 0.046990        0.046                          0.063710
0.047000 - 0.048990        0.048                          0.066480
0.049000 - 0.050990        0.050                          0.069250



TABLE 3



                                         Tabulated statement to be used for setting 
                                         the maximum selling price of a book 
Value of Swiss            Median         distributed in Québec where, in setting
franc (SwF) in                           the retail price in Canadian dollars, the 
Canadian dollars                         retail price in the publisher’s trade list 
($) per bracket                          is used



0.3900 - 0.4199            0.405                          0.5609
0.4200 - 0.4499            0.435                          0.6024
0.4500 - 0.4799            0.465                          0.6440
0.4800 - 0.5099            0.495                          0.6855
0.5100 - 0.5399            0.525                          0.7271
0.5400 - 0.5699            0.555                          0.7686
0.5700 - 0.5999            0.585                          0.8102
0.6000 - 0.6299            0.615                          0.8517
0.6300 - 0.6599            0.645                          0.8933
0.6600 - 0.6899            0.675                          0.9348
0.6900 - 0.7199            0.705                          0.9764
0.7200 - 0.7499            0.735                          1.0179
0.7500 - 0.7799            0.765                          1.0595
0.7800 - 0.8099            0.795                          1.1010
0.8100 - 0.8399            0.825                          1.1426
0.8400 - 0.8699            0.855                          1.1841
0.8700 - 0.8999            0.885                          1.2257
0.9000 - 0.9299            0.915                          1.2672
0.9300 - 0.9599            0.945                          1.3088
0.9600 - 0.9899            0.975                          1.3503
0.9900 - 1.0199            1.005                          1.3919
1.0200 - 1.0499            1.035                          1.4334
1.0500 - 1.0799            1.065                          1.4750
1.0800 - 1.1099            1.095                          1.5165
1.1100 - 1.1399            1.125                          1.5581
1.1400 - 1.1699            1.155                          1.5996
1.1700 - 1.1999            1.185                          1.6412
1.2000 - 1.2299            1.215                          1.6827
1.2300 - 1.2599            1.245                          1.7243



TABLE 4



                                         Tabulated statement to be used for setting 
                                         the maximum selling price of a book 
Value of pound            Median         distributed in Québec where, in setting
sterling (£) in                          the retail price in Canadian dollars, the 
Canadian dollars                         retail price in the publisher’s trade list 
($) per bracket                          is used



1.0300 - 1.0699            1.05                           1.4542
1.0700 - 1.1099            1.09                           1.5096
1.1100 - 1.1499            1.13                           1.5650
1.1500 - 1.1899            1.17                           1.6204
1.1900 - 1.2299            1.21                           1.6758
1.2300 - 1.2699            1.25                           1.7312
1.2700 - 1.3099            1.29                           1.7866
1.3100 - 1.3499            1.33                           1.8420
1.3500 - 1.3899            1.37                           1.8974
1.3900 - 1.4299            1.41                           1.9528
1.4300 - 1.4699            1.45                           2.0082
1.4700 - 1.5099            1.49                           2.0636
1.5100 - 1.5499            1.53                           2.1190
1.5500 - 1.5899            1.57                           2.1744
1.5900 - 1.6299            1.61                           2.2298
1.6300 - 1.6699            1.65                           2.2852
1.6700 - 1.7099            1.69                           2.3406
1.7100 - 1.7499            1.73                           2.3960
1.7500 - 1.7899            1.77                           2.4514
1.7900 - 1.8299            1.81                           2.5068
1.8300 - 1.8699            1.85                           2.5622
1.8700 - 1.9099            1.89                           2.6176
1.9100 - 1.9499            1.93                           2.6730
1.9500 - 1.9899            1.97                           2.7284
1.9900 - 2.0299            2.01                           2.7838
2.0300 - 2.0699            2.05                           2.8392
2.0700 - 2.1099            2.09                           2.8946
2.1100 - 2.1499            2.13                           2.9500
2.1500 - 2.1899            2.17                           3.0054
2.1900 - 2.2299            2.21                           3.0608
2.2300 - 2.2699            2.25                           3.1162
2.2700 - 2.3099            2.29                           3.1716
2.3100 - 2.3499            2.33                           3.2270
2.3500 - 2.3899            2.37                           3.2824
2.3900 - 2.4299            2.41                           3.3378
2.4300 - 2.4699            2.45                           3.3932
2.4700 - 2.5099            2.49                           3.4486
2.5100 - 2.5499            2.53                           3.5040
2.5500 - 2.5899            2.57                           3.5594
2.5900 - 2.6299            2.61                           3.6148
2.6300 - 2.6699            2.65                           3.6702
2.6700 - 2.7099            2.69                           3.7256
2.7100 - 2.7499            2.73                           3.7810



TABLE 5



                                         Tabulated statement to be used for setting 
                                         the maximum selling price of a book 
Value of American         Median         distributed in Québec where, in setting
dollar ($US) in                          the retail price in Canadian dollars, the 
Canadian dollars                         retail price in the publisher’s trade list 
($) per bracket                          is used



0.7100 - 0.7399           0.725                           1.0041
0.7400 - 0.7699           0.755                           1.0457
0.7700 - 0.7999           0.785                           1.0872
0.8000 - 0.8299           0.815                           1.1287
0.8300 - 0.8599           0.845                           1.1703
0.8600 - 0.8899           0.875                           1.2118
0.8900 - 0.9199           0.905                           1.2534
0.9200 - 0.9499           0.935                           1.2949
0.9500 - 0.9799           0.965                           1.3365
0.9800 - 1.0099           0.995                           1.3843
1.0100 - 1.0399           1.025                           1.4196
1.0400 - 1.0699           1.055                           1.4611
1.0700 - 1.0999           1.085                           1.5027
1.1000 - 1.1299           1.115                           1.5442
1.1300 - 1.1599           1.145                           1.5858
1.1600 - 1.1899           1.175                           1.6273
1.1900 - 1.2199           1.205                           1.6689
1.2200 - 1.2499           1.235                           1.7104
1.2500 - 1.2799           1.265                           1.7520
1.2800 - 1.3099           1.295                           1.7935
1.3100 - 1.3399           1.325                           1.8351
1.3400 - 1.3699           1.355                           1.8706
1.3700 - 1.3999           1.385                           1.9182
1.4000 - 1.4299           1.415                           1.9597
1.4300 - 1.4599           1.445                           2.0013
1.4600 - 1.4899           1.475                           2.0428
1.4900 - 1.5199           1.505                           2.0844

    

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 2, Sch. A; O.C. 636-84, s. 1; Erratum, 1984 G.O. 2, 3811; O.C. 2556-85, s. 1; O.C. 832-92, s. 1.

This Schedule was not able to be updated by the Service de la refonte of the Ministère de la Justice.

SCHEDULE B

(s. 16)

DISCOUNTS

A distributor shall grant the following minimum discounts to an accredited bookstore:

BOOK CATEGORIES

1. Any book not listed under Category 2: 40%;

2. Dictionaries, encyclopedias, law books, medical books, books providing an introduction to a science or technology, including the humanities and social sciences, and whose format and presentation are such that the books constitute instructional material: 30%.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 2, Sch. B; O.C. 636-84, s. 2; O.C. 350-98, s. 3.

This Schedule was not able to be updated by the Service de la refonte of the Ministère de la Justice.

REFERENCES

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 2

S.Q. 1983, c. 54, s. 37

O.C. 636-84, 1984 G.O. 2, 1321 and 3811

O.C. 2798-84, 1985 G.O. 2, 59

O.C. 2556-85, 1986 G.O. 2, 7

O.C. 832-92, 1992 G.O. 2, 2909

O.C. 350-98, 1998 G.O. 2, 1465