AND order fixing the wholesale price of British magazines sold in Ireland has been issued by the Minister of State for Consumer Affairs Mr Pat Rabbitte.
The price will now be calculated at the sterling cover price plus the rate of exchange, plus 5 per cent and VAT. This should reduce prices slightly, as the distributors currently add 10 per cent for additional costs in Ireland double the amount which the Minister has sanctioned.
The Minister will also appoint a Director of Competition Enforcement soon and the arrangements for pricing magazines will constitute a priority task for the director, Mr Rabbitte said.
The measures follow meetings with the distributors of magazines, recorded music and books on the companies pricing policies for goods brought in from Britain.
The Minister said there was "no justifiable reason" for the high price of magazines sold here.
Mr Rabbitte met the two main importers of British magazines, Easons and Newspread. He also met the two boys representing the newsagents in eland, the Irish Retail Newsagents Association and the National Federation of Retail Newsagents to discuss the issue.
Mr Rabbitte was replying to a Dail question by the Fianna Fail spokeswoman on commerce, Ms Mary O'Rourke, who described the price difference as a "scandal".
A report on the issue by the Director of Consumer Affairs was published at the end of April. The report concluded that the single biggest factor influencing the price differential was the treatment of VAT on magazines in Ireland.
However, the report also said that the sterling/pound conversion and what is known in the trade as a margin for "uplift", which is designed to cover distribution and other costs associated with the sale of British magazines in Ireland, were responsible for the difference.
A formula for the uplift was agreed with the now disbanded National Prices Commission in 1983. But the 5 per cent uplift has been effectively doubled and prices are now higher than they would have been if the original National Prices Commission for in was strictly adhered to.