The Bichet Act provides for the creation of a mechanism of balanced distribution for the specific, unavoidable costs induced by the distribution of daily newspapers, between all publishers, of both daily papers and periodicals.
Arcep held an initial public consultation from 18 December 2020 to 1 February 2021 on the fundamentals of the method used to calculate balanced cost distribution, and on the procedures for organising payment flows. Today, it is publishing the eight responses it received to that consultation, and is launching a second consultation on the draft version of the Decision it hopes to adopt.
Interested parties are invited to send their contributions to Arcep before 30 September 2021.
Implementation of a mechanism designed to finance the excess costs incurred by the distribution of daily newspapers, and to provide market players with more clarity
Through its Decision No. 2020-0742 of 8 July 2020, aimed at introducing temporary measures, Arcep sought to maintain, at least temporarily, the main principles of the existing mechanisms put into place by CSMP, which were based on paying provisional monthly instalments, with an annual ex post correction, based on an assessment of the actual assumed costs.
In a parallel move, Arcep initiated modelling work in 2020 to define how it planned to calculate and implement the balanced cost distribution method, and so allow stakeholders, both publishers and distributors, to make projections for their business plans.
The purpose of this public consultation is to lay out the balanced cost distribution assessment model established by Arcep, and to query the sector’s players on the rules it plans to employ for calculating balanced cost distribution and the rules for structuring its planned payment flows.
Once this second public consultation is complete, Arcep plans on adoption a Decision in Q4 2021, setting the method for calculating balanced cost distribution. A separate decision will be made before the end of the year to determine the amount of the equalisation and of the corrections for 2020, as well as the new single instalment amount that will be in force for 2021.