Importing books: they denounce new obstacles and the lack of clear public policies

How do books published and published abroad reach Argentine bookstores? Through distributors that import them. In general, they bring few copies, a few dozens; they are usually expensive but necessary: otherwise they could not be obtained. Every month, on the AFIP site, companies complete a form known as SIMI: comprehensive import monitoring system. There, you record what, how much and how you want to import; it is the way in which licenses and payments are made official abroad. But, for a month now, a new provision, a new regulation, has been complicating imports.

On February 2, when Jorge Waldhuter tried to upload a SIMI, he could not: “I was blocked due to economic incapacity”. 28 years ago, he created the Waldhuter Distributor, which he now runs with his family and is one of the most important in the country when it comes to books. Everyone is preparing for the great return of the “most important cultural event of the year”, the Book Fair: from April 28 to May 16 in La Rural, which could not be held in the last two years due to the pandemic. In order to expand its offer, he placed the order to import books, but the CEF (Financial Economic Capacity) prevented him from doing so. “The AFIP says that we don't have money to import or pay,” he explains.

Last month, AFIP introduced new parameters and made adjustments. Faced with the confusion, many companies from different sectors complained. A month ago, in dialogue with Infobae, the president of the Argentine Chamber of Commerce Natalio Grinman said that “this situation is especially burdensome for new companies with no history of foreign payments or international trade operations” and called for greater traceability and more flexible mechanisms for the formation of the EFC. The objective of the Government, it is understood, is to control foreign exchange and that, in the absence of reserves, dollars remain here.

“We have to pay royalties (royalties for rights) to Spanish publishers and for that type of payment we are also being blocked,” explains Jorge Waldhuter, adding that they will finally be able to count on only 20% of what they thought they would import to sell at the Book Fair. “It's going to be the fair with the least imported content ever seen,” he says, explaining: “We bet on bibliodiversity, we bring a huge amount of books but no more than 10, 20, 30 copies per title.” While there are new rules, everyone points out that there is a policy that has been around for a long time. “The measure is an obstacle that is in addition to those that have been coming since 2012,” says Waldhuter.

Publishers are also affected by the payment of royalties and advances to foreign authors. Among the labels that Infobae Cultura consulted, some commented that they had problems with the February SIME, but not by March. They don't have the explanation. “In January they invented the CEF, the ability to face a new import. The AFIP places such a low value on you that it complicates imports that are minimal and certain payments,” says Martín Gremmelspacher, president of the Argentine Book Chamber. “There are few copies of each book and the aim is to accompany bibliodiversity. The problem is that they put in the same exchange those who import for a thousand dollars, for 30,000, as those who do it with millions. It is a difficult filter to pass because it is renewed every month. It's all very cumbersome,” he adds.

“Each book has its own intellectual property register, with which copyright is registered. What I mean by this is that if you don't care about that book, that book doesn't show up. The CAL (Argentine Book Chamber) understands the flow of imports and exports, advocating that Argentine books are everywhere, but it also understands that there is a sector that needs to import books, that accompanies bibliodiversity, is a necessity, a complement,” says Gremmelspacher and assures that they have tried to talk to the authorities and that dialogue is open, but that “so far: zero response”.

Horacio Brihet is an accountant, he works with companies of different sectors and different calibers. One of them is the Distributor of the Future, which imports books. “The AFIP determines the financial capacity, how much you can import, and it does so based on a formula that is unknown. At Del Futuro we haven't had any problems but we know that they have made a mistake with several companies; we don't know whether consciously or unconsciously,” he says. The Argentine Chamber of Publications told Infobae Cultura that the companies that make it up have not had problems with imports.

“What we were approved for last December is not what we would have wanted,” says Brihet, adding: “There are always difficulties, but they are approving. Despite the obstacles of the bureaucracy, bad that bad things go, they can be paid, we walk. We would need more, but it works.” For Jorge Waldhuter, however, the whole system must be rethought: “What we have lived through since 2012 has no name,” he says and lists different obstacles, such as the Law on Inks, where you could not import more than 499 copies because, if you did, “you had to undergo a study of the book that showed that the volume of lead in ink was not harmful to health: it was an insult to intelligence”.

“Now, according to the AFIP, we lack the ability to pay. Any management you want to do at the AFIP is digital. You ask for an appointment but this is not among the options, that is, they don't serve you,” says Waldhuter. This drawback highlights a structural problem. As Infobae Cultura found out, many publishers formed limited company companies in Spain or Uruguay to operate smoothly. There are different interests at stake, but all actors hold the same thing: there is a lack of public policies around the publishing industry, which is increasingly punished despite its high quality and power.

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