D-8.1, r. 4 - Regulation respecting the accreditation of bookstores

Updated to 12 December 2023

This document has official status.

chapter D-8.1, r. 4

Regulation respecting the accreditation of bookstores

Act respecting the development of Québec firms in the book industry

(chapter D-8.1, ss. 3, 15, 17, 20 and 38).

DIVISION I INTERPRETATION AND APPLICATION

§ 1 . — Definitions

1. For the purposes of the Act respecting the development of Québec firms in the book industry (chapter D-8.1) and the regulations thereunder,

“school manual” means any printed document designed for the instructional objectives of the preschool, elementary and secondary program of studies, and including complementary material and workbooks; regular dictionaries used for those teaching levels are also included.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 4, s. 1; O.C 636-84, s. 1; O.C. 352-98, s. 1.

2. In this Regulation, unless the context indicates otherwise,

“institution” means a body or person mentioned in section 3 and in the Schedule to the Act;

“specialized bookstore” means a bookstore where books in only one field are sold, including children’s literature;

“title on display” means a title easily accessible to individuals due to its methodical and visual presentation as well as its positioning in the sales or display area.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 4, s. 2; O.C. 636-84, s. 2.

§ 2 . — Application

3. A certificate of accreditation issued by the Minister of Culture, Communications and Status of Women to a person applying therefor is valid only for the establishment for which it is requested.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 4, s. 3.

DIVISION II ELIGIBILITY FOR ACCREDITATION

4. In addition to the stipulations set forth in sections 15 and 16 of the Act respecting the development of Québec firms in the book industry (chapter D-8.1) and subject to sections 7 to 10, a person who carries on bookselling activities on his own behalf in Québec must, if he wishes to become accredited, comply with the following norms and conditions in the case of a general bookstore:

(1)  have his head office or principal establishment in Québec;

(2)  in the case of a partnership, be registered with the enterprise registrar;

(3)  if a legal person, a company, a cooperative association, a savings and credit union, or a caisse d’entraide économique, be constituted either under Statutes of Canada or the Statutes of Québec;

(4)  prove and certify that every person controlling or owning preferred shares, debentures, bonds or any debt allowing the effective control of the firm is eligible for accreditation under sections 15 and 16 of the Act; such proof is not required in the case of a debt owed to a Canadian chartered bank or an institution registered with the Autorité des marchés financiers if the debt is not secured or is guaranteed by a person referred to in sections 15 and 16 of the Act;

(5)  have sold to private individuals, during the fiscal period preceding the application and upon certification of audited documents, $100,000 worth of books or 331/3% of its overall book sales, the lesser of the 2 being retained;

(6)  have sold, during the fiscal period preceding the application and upon certification of audited documents, books for not less than $300,000 or not less than 50% of its total sales figure, whichever is less, for a bookstore in a municipality with more than 10,000 inhabitants;

(7)  have sold, during the fiscal period preceding the application and upon certification of audited documents, books for not less than $150,000 or not less than 50% of its total sales figure, whichever is less, for a bookstore in a municipality with 10,000 inhabitants or less;

(8)  prove that he receives standing orders from 25 publishers who are accredited or have proven and certified their eligibility for accreditation, prove that he keeps the orders for at least 4 months or for any other time period agreed upon between the publisher and the bookseller, and prove that the orders are titles on display;

(9)  operate an establishment that is easily accessible to private individuals from the street or a mall, sufficiently identified and that has a sufficient sales and display area reserved for books including those required by paragraph 6 or 7;

(10)  keep an establishment open all year round in accordance with the local municipal by-laws and business practices;

(11)  always have bibliographical material in the establishment, including the latest publications as well as subscriptions to the material listed in Schedule A or have access to that material in the establishment.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 4, s. 4; O.C. 2798-84, s. 1; O.C. 352-98, s. 2.

5. For the purposes of paragraph 5 of section 4, a certificate of accreditation may not be issued to a person who has not operated a bookstore in Québec for at least the last 3 consecutive months, except where the person is accredited under this Regulation for another establishment.

That person must submit to the Minister with his application a list of his total book sales to private individuals during those 3 months of operation and a list of sponsors as well as his financial statements; he must prove that his establishment can be operated in conformity with paragraph 5 of section 4.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 4, s. 5; O.C. 352-98, s. 3.

6. A person described in section 4 automatically undertakes to comply with and meet the following norms and conditions:

(1)  follow up all book orders within a reasonable time;

(2)  notify customers as soon as possible of any delay in filling the order or of the impossibility of filling it completely or partially;

(3)  sell or order any book intended for institutions in accordance with the Regulation respecting the acquisition of books by certain persons from accredited bookstores (chapter D-8.1, r. 1);

(4)  furnish the Minister with any document or information requested during the application of this Regulation or the Regulation respecting the acquisition of books by certain persons from accredited bookstores;

(5)  accept to sell the books and publications for which he holds the exclusive rights of sale to any other accredited bookstore on conditions corresponding to those usually obtained by accredited bookstores from a book publisher for books in the same category;

(6)  increase and improve, according to the clientele’s needs his services, including bibliographical material and technical equipment, qualified staff and stock variety;

(7)  in the case of books for which he has exclusive distribution rights, receive his supplies from an exclusive accredited distributor if the distributor is accredited or has proved and certified his eligibility for accreditation, provided that the distributor complies with the mode of computation of sales price referred to in sections 15 and 16 of the Regulation respecting the accreditation of Québec distributors and the method of calculating sales prices (chapter D-8.1, r. 2);

(8)  keep, for the entire bookstore and irrespective of the date on which the person was accredited, an inventory of at least 6,000 différent book titles, including at least 2,000 different titles of books published in Québec and 4,000 different titles of books published elsewhere, divided into categories the names and minimum numbers of which are listed in Schedule B. To reach the total of 2,000 different titles of books published in Québec and 4,000 different titles of books published elsewhere, as the case may be, the person shall add the number of different additional book titles required in the categories of his choice to the minimum numbers of different book titles listed in Schedule B.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 4, s. 6; O.C. 2798-84, s. 2; O.C. 352-98, s. 4.

7. A person who applies for a certificate of accreditation for an English-language general bookstore must comply with the norms and conditions set forth in the Act and sections 4 to 6 with the exception of paragraph 8 of section 4. For the purposes of this section, “published in Canada” is substituted for “published in Québec” in paragraph 8 of section 6 and in Schedule B.

The person provided for in the first paragraph must prove, however, that he receives standing orders from all publishers who are accredited or have proven and certified their eligibility for accreditation, in the language in which the bookstore is accredited, prove that he keeps the orders for at least 4 months or for any other time period agreed upon between the publisher and the bookseller, and prove that the orders are titles on display.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 4, s. 7; O.C. 2798-84, s. 3.

8. A person applying for accreditation for a specialized bookstore shall comply with the norms and conditions set forth in the Act and sections 4 to 6 for the field in which accreditation is requested, except for paragraphs 6, 7, 8 and 11 of section 4, and paragraph 8 of section 6.

In addition, the person provided for in the first paragraph must specify the field in which he is applying for accreditation and meet the following requirements:

(1)  always have a sufficient number of titles representative of all the titles published in the field;

(2)  always have adequate biographical material for that field in the establishment;

(3)  prove that he receives standing orders from all publishers who are accredited or have proven and certified their eligibility for accreditation, in the field in which the bookstore is accredited, prove that he keeps the orders for at least 4 months or for any other period agreed upon between the publisher and the bookseller, and prove that the orders are titles on display.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 4, s. 8; O.C. 2798-84, s. 4; O.C. 352-98, s. 5.

9. A person who applies for a certificate of accreditation or a holder of a certificate of accreditation who cannot comply with paragraph 8 of section 4, the second paragraph of section 7 or subparagraph 3 of the second paragraph of section 8 remains eligible for accreditation if he proves that he does not receive the standing orders required because of a refusal of service from a publisher or his distributor and not through his own refusal, fault or negligence.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 4, s. 9.

10. A person who applies for a certificate of accreditation must, at the time of his application and annually thereafter, furnish the Minister with a sworn declaration in which he has certified that he meets the requirements of this Regulation and undertakes to fully comply with the Act and regulations at all times.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 4, s. 10.

DIVISION III ISSUE OF CERTIFICATE OF ACCREDITATION

11. A holder of a certificate of accreditation must keep up-to-date separate statistics or data on the sales of books to private individuals and institutions as well as his other activities in the accredited establishment.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 4, s. 11.

12. A holder of a certificate of accreditation must not take part in any collusion, exercise any undue influence or be involved in trading of favours, and must avoid any conflict of interest in his relations with an institution, its directors, mandataries or representatives.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 4, s. 12.

13. A holder of a certificate of accreditation must post up the certificate in public view in each accredited establishment or, if the original is destroyed, altered or lost, post up a copy thereof that the Minister may issue him upon request.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 4, s. 13.

14. A holder of a certificate of accreditation is not obliged to comply with paragraphs 1 and 2 of section 6 in respect of an institution if the holder can prove with supporting vouchers that the institution has not respected the normal deadline for the payment of its purchases from the accredited bookstore.

However, a prior notice of 30 days must be sent to the institution by the accredited bookstore before interrupting or permanently terminating available services.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 4, s. 14.

DIVISION IV EXTENSION OF ACCREDITATION

15. Accreditation is non-assignable and may not be transferred without authorization from the Minister.

If a holder of a certificate of accreditation goes bankrupt and if the bankruptcy trustee decides to continue the activities of the holder and notifies the Minister thereof, the accreditation is extended and the trustee is required to fulfill all the obligations imposed by the Act and regulations.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 4, s. 15.

16. A certificate of accreditation issued for a set period or on a temporary basis and which has expired remains in force if an application for extension or renewal or an application for permanent accreditation is sent to the Minister on the form provided by the latter, at least 1 month before the certificate of accreditation expires.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 4, s. 16.

17. A holder of a certificate of accreditation must notify the Minister in writing within 8 days of any major renovation or any moving of the establishment.

A new certificate of accreditation must be applied for within the same period.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 4, s. 17.

18. A holder of a certificate of accreditation must immediately notify the Minister in writing of the winding-up, closing or bankruptcy of his establishment.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 4, s. 18.

19. In addition to complying with the Act and this Regulation at all times, a holder of a certificate of accreditation must each year, not later than 6 months after the end of each fiscal period, without a notice or a request to that effect, prepare, certify, and give to the Minister, for each accredited establishment, a detailed report on the activities of the last fiscal period that contains the following information and details correctly set forth:

(1)  the name and address of the head office or the principal establishment;

(2)  the names, addresses and citizenship of the owner or persons who own or control the establishment together with their share of the rights of ownership or the extent of their control;

(3)  the names, addresses and citizenship of the persons described in paragraph 4 of section 4 and the nature and value of their titles to property or evidences of indebtedness;

(4)  the names, addresses and citizenship of the persons described in section 16.4 of the Act and of the directors and executive officers of the establishment;

(5)  the number of shares or stocks, and their description and the paid-up capital;

(6)  a list of shareholders and their addresses;

(7)  the establishment’s financial statements and, where applicable, its consolidated financial statements;

(8)  the respective totals of book sales to private individuals and institutions;

(9)  proof of subscription to the bibliographic material listed in Schedule A.

The annual report must be certified by the signature of the owner or of 2 directors of the establishment.

The Minister must be immediately notified in writing of any major change in the annual report or in any of the conditions or requirements mentioned in section 4 made during the fiscal period.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 4, s. 19; O.C. 352-98, s. 6.

DIVISION V TRANSITIONAL, MISCELLANEOUS AND FINAL PROVISIONS

20. A document or report or information required pursuant to sections 4, 5, 11 and 19 may be replaced by another official document certified in true that includes at least the information required by this Regulation.

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 4, s. 20.

21. (Omitted).

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 4, s. 21.

22. (Omitted).

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 4, s. 22.

SCHEDULE A

(s. 4)

BIBLIOGRAPHIC MATERIAL

(1) French-language accredited bookstores must have the following bibliographic material or bibliographic material containing similar information:

(1) La Bibliographie du Québec, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec;

(2) Livres d’ici;

(3) Les livres disponibles, Electre (Auteurs and Titres);

(4) Livres de France or Livres Hebdo;

(5) Le Répertoire des livres au format de poche;

(6) Les livres disponibles canadiens de langue française (Bibliodata).

The above bibliographic material may be kept in paper form, in electronic form, in optical, magnetic or magentic-optical form, or in microform.

(2) English-language accredited bookstores must have the following bibliographic material:

(1) Books in print (United States);

(2) British Books in Print (United Kingdom);

(3) Canadian Books in Print;

(4) Paperbound Books in Print (United States).

(3) (paragraph revoked).

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 4, Sch. A; O.C. 636-84, ss. 3 and 4; O.C. 352-98, s. 7.

SCHEDULE B

(s. 6)

INVENTORY OF DIFFERENT BOOK TITLES: DISTRIBUTION BY CATEGORY AND MINIMUM NUMBERS PER CATEGORY

                                                             Minimum number
                                                                 6,000

                                                      Published in    Published in
                                                        Québec          elsewhere
 
Categories                                               2,000           4,000



1. Fiction



Novels, tales, short stories, drama, poetry,               500             800
humour, literary criticism and essays



2. Fine Arts



Art books, art history, architecture and town               50              75
planning, folk art, music and performing arts, 
dance, cinema



3. Humanities and Social Sciences



Philosophy, psychology, esoterica, religion,               200             300
sociology, politics, anthropology, ethnology,
economics, finance, law, education, geography,
documentaries, history, biographies, memoirs,
linguistics



4. Encyclopedias and dictionaries



General encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases                15              50



5. Scientific and technical books



Any dictionary, encyclopedia, law and medicine             100             125
book and any book providing an introduction 
to a science or technology, including the
humanities, and whose format and presentation 
are such that the book constitutes instructional 
material appropriate for use in occupational 
training, in: mathematics, physics,
chemistry, astronomy, earth sciences, 
paleontology, life sciences, botany, zoology,
medicine, engineering, applied sciences,
agriculture, home economics, management, etc.



6. Popular scientific works                                100             200



7. Children’s literature



Literature, illustrated books, narrative,                  300             450
comics                                               ______________________________

                                                         1,265           2,000

O.C. 2798-84, s. 5; O.C. 352-98, s. 8.

REFERENCES

R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 4

O.C. 636-84, 1984 G.O. 2, 1321

O.C. 2798-84, 1985 G.O. 2, 59

O.C. 352-98, 1998 G.O. 2, 1467