Press releases
European Commissioner for Education and Culture, Androulla Vassiliou, declared her personal support for lower VAT on digital press, in a key note speech to the ENPA General Assembly in Nicosia, Cyprus, on 25th May. Commissioner Vassiliou said: "My personal view is that reduced or zero VAT rates should continue to be applied to printed newspapers, and that digital press formats should be granted a similar treatment." She praised the argumentation in ENPA’s response to the Commission’s consultation on VAT last year.
The Commissioner said: "I am convinced that extending the reduced or zero-VAT rates to online publications would be economically beneficial to the providers of on-line news. It would also ensure a level-playing field with other parts of the world such as the United States. But more importantly, it would make it easier to access on-line newspapers for all citizens, strengthening the role of newspapers as an indispensable tool in the education and empowerment of citizens."
ENPA also welcomed Commissioner Vassiliou’s statement underlining that digitisation of press content has increased the need for copyright protection: “I am firmly of the opinion that news aggregators and technology platforms need to respect newspaper copyright on the Internet,” she said. In addition, Commissioner Vassiliou commended the work of newspaper publishers to actively promote media literacy across Europe.
The European Newspaper Publishers’ Association (ENPA) is the largest representative body of newspaper publishers across Europe. ENPA advocates for 14 national associations across 14 European countries, and is a principal interlocutor to the EU institutions and a key driver of media policy debates in the European Union.
