International trade

The UK publishing industry is an export powerhouse, with almost 60% of revenues derived from overseas, and market access is key to this success. We also export more books than any other country in the world.

As the UK seeks to sign free trade agreements with Europe and the rest of the world, we call on the government to ensure that high standards of intellectual property protection are maintained while access to key export markets for good and services is expanded.

Europe remains a key market for UK publishers and it is crucial that the customs arrangements put in place enable publishers to get books from warehouses and ports into homes and classrooms as quickly as possible.

We are also working very closely with UK government in relation to the agreements with the rest of the world, championing the interests of UK publishers as part of those negotiations.

The UNESCO Florence agreement (1950) agreed not to impose customs duties on educational, scientific, and cultural materials including books. We strongly believe that this international precedent should be upheld for all global trade in cultural and learning materials.