Books are undergoing a massive transformation from being a physical object to something electronic, or an "e-book". And while e-book sales still make up only a small proportion of book sales (1% in most OECD countries, 2-3% in the United Kingdom and 8% in the United States), consumers spent an estimated USD 966 million on them in 2010. By 2015, the industry is anticipated to nearly triple to almost USD 3 billion. Just as notable is the recent dramatic rate of growth in OECD markets for e-books; for example, on 19 May 2011, Amazon announced that its sales of e-books had overtaken sales of all forms of print books combined.
Ongoing policy issues related to e-books include differing tax rates in countries between physical books and e-books, consumer lock-in to specific platforms, limitations on how users can read and share their purchased content, laws prohibiting discounting of e-books, and a lack of transparency about how personal data on reading habits is being used.
Value added tax (VAT) rates for printed books and e-books
Selected countries, 2011
|
Country |
VAT printed book |
VAT e-book |
|
Italy |
4% |
21% |
|
France |
5.5% |
7% |
|
Germany |
7% |
19% |
|
United Kingdom |
0 |
20% |
|
Spain |
4% |
18% |
|
Luxembourg |
3% |
15% |
|
Sweden |
6% |
25% if purchased online |
Download the October 2012 report "E-books: Developments and Policy Considerations"
Background
This report is part of an OECD series on digital content. Other studies include online news, public sector information, film and video, user-created content, mobile content, online computer games, music, and scientific publishing.