Bill will end discounting of new books in Israel, set minimum royalties

The Jerusalem Post reports that the bill under consideration in Israel to limit discounting of new books is now on track for passage. The Ministerial Committee on Legislation approved a draft of the law on Sunday, and the Prime Minister's office has said that it will approve it. Under the draft law, it will be illegal to sell books for less than list price for the first 18 months after publication, except during Hebrew Book Week and for a few weeks around Rosh Hashanah and Passover, where discounts of up to 10% will be permitted.

Royalty terms for authors will also be enforced by law: For the first 18 months after a title is published, authors will receive a minimum 8% royalty on the first 6,000 books sold, and royalties of at least 10% for all books sold above that number. The article also states that publishers will be obligated to pay authors at least 16% royalties on profits from their books, but it doesn't make clear how the two royalty schemes will work together.