Politics · Italy · 9 hrs ago
Italian budget committee seeks to drop digital textbook discount
Italy’s Budget Committee has proposed dropping the digital textbook discount from the government’s budget bill.
The measure would have required school and university textbooks in digital form to cost 50% less than their cover price.
Publishers and booksellers had opposed it, saying it might not save families money and could lead students to print digital books themselves.
Italy’s publishers’ association also argued that requiring a licence for printing could conflict with copyright protections and encourage piracy.
The proposal to remove the discount comes alongside two other proposed removals, concerning health-service bills for patients and disaster-reconstruction funds.
Publishers and booksellers welcomed the move, while industry groups said talks with institutions are still needed to address costs for families and schools.
The publishers’ association hopes a discussion with Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara will continue.
The Chamber of Deputies’ Budget Committee proposed removing three provisions from Italy’s budget bill.
One provision would have required a 50% discount on digital school and university textbooks.
The other provisions concerned healthcare summaries of services and fees, and changes to post-disaster reconstruction funds.
The committee cited the provisions’ regulatory or organizational nature, or a lack of funding.
Publishers and booksellers welcomed the proposed removal of the digital-book discount.
- Who
- The Chamber of Deputies’ Budget Committee proposed the removals.
- What
- It proposed removing three provisions from the budget bill, including a mandatory discount on digital textbooks.
- When
- November 4, 2026.
- Where
- Italy’s Chamber of Deputies.
- Why
- The committee cited the provisions’ regulatory or organizational nature, or a lack of funding.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Publishers and booksellers called for the digital-book provision to be removed.
The Chamber of Deputies’ Budget Committee proposed removing three provisions from the budget bill.
- Provisions proposed for removal
- 3
- Digital textbook discount
- 50% of the cover price
- Committee
- Chamber of Deputies’ Budget Committee
- Date
- November 4, 2026
- Other provisions
- Healthcare service and fee summaries; changes to post-disaster reconstruction funds
2 sources
What people are saying
We remain convinced that a provision that would have encouraged piracy was impractical
It would have been a change with no real economic benefit for users, since it would have introduced a product to the market that was no more affordable than books already available
Digital technology at school is a useful tool if integrated, not if it replaces other methods