Canadian magazines worried

Year Published:  1989
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX3649

Abstract: 
The Canadian Periodical Publishers' Association (CPPA) is concerned that legislation which discourages U.S. publishers from selling their Canadian "overflow" circulation to Canadian advertisers is being circumvented in the wake of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. Tariff item 9958 prohibits the importation into Canada of magazines in which more than 5 per cent of advertising is aimed primarily at Canadians. It also specifically prohibits the importation of special, split-run, or "Canadian" editions containing Canadian-directed advertising which does not appear in the main edition from the originating country. This tariff item has helped protect an indigenous Canadian magazine publishing industry. According to the CPPA, some publishers are now exploring loopholes in the legislation (for example, printing their Canadian edition in Canada so they won't have to import it into the country. Others appear simply to be ignoring the legislation in the belief that penalties are not serious enough to worry about. Since the tariff was first imposed in 1964, some magazines have received repeated warnings, but no magazine has actually been turned back no matter how often it has broken the rules. The CPPA fears that such infractions will now increase.
-CPPA Newsletter #128