“Whilst the Press Distribution Forum may like to think it has the blessing of the NFRN we can categorically state it does not. We have sent no documentation to this forum and we have not met with it either.
Whilst it is true that the NFRN Chaired and Administered a different all-industry forum through most of 2008 under a similarly named title “Press Distribution Committee” (PDC), that was all about producing a working self-regulatory mechanism that the industry could offer to the Office of Fair Trading as an alternative legally underpinned process in lieu of a referral to the Competition Commission. But after months of meetings and discussion it came to nothing and the moment that the OFT published its review of the news industry, publishers and wholesalers were off like a shot, leaving the discussions in tatters.
That is the real reality of what it means to engage with publishers and wholesalers in discussions about self-regulation. Whilst they think they are under the sword of Damocles from the competition authorities, they will smile and talk encouragingly, whilst being very careful to ensure that anything of substance is shrouded in a mist of complexity and kicked into the long grass.
Yes there are some aspects of the Industry Charter that the NFRN would support. However, this is hardly surprising since these are a direct lift from the Industry Standard Service Agreement (ISSA) that has existed since 1996.
But what of the real issues? Will, for instance, publishers and wholesalers negotiate a reasonable SOR limit and allow retailers who wish it to have full control over their supplies? Not a chance! And how about the abolition of Carriage Charges so that retailers can get the margin from the publisher they are supposed to get? Based on our experience, what publishers and wholesalers mean when they talk about self-regulation is not a partnership of equals as it should be, but a process whereby retailers ask for what they want or need to serve their customers, and publishers and wholesalers tell them whether they can have it or not.
This is why the NFRN resigned from the former Joint Industry Group (JIG) as it was making no headway on its agenda for independent newsagents. Does the PDF offer a fundamental change from this culture? Not from where we sit and that is why we have no wish, at this stage, to be involved. It is not because of finances or politics – we simply don’t believe that we will get any outcomes that will benefit our members.
Whilst it clearly suits the NPA, PPA and ANMW to have the competition authorities believe that all is well within the news industry (to avoid the threat of further regulatory intervention), they are kidding themselves if they think that the retail associations are going to stop lobbying for a full market investigation by the Competition Commission.
That is not a prospect we particularly relish, but unless publishers and wholesalers demonstrate some real enthusiasm for resolving some of the long standing issues, such as control of copy allocation and an alternative to the hated carriage charge mechanism, we remain unenthusiastic about joining another talking shop that is long on words and short on delivery.
We do, however, continue to meet with publishers and wholesalers on a bi-lateral basis as we believe this is the best way in which we can successfully represent the interest of our members.”
