Foreword
This Government entered office with a commitment to give arts, cultural and heritage policy a higher priority than ever before. We are determined that arts and culture will be more highly valued for the benefits they provide as an intrinsic part of New Zealand society.
We also recognise that arts, culture, and heritage have yet to reach their full potential to contribute to the wealth of New Zealand. Already our film and television industries are significant export-dollar earners. Our popular music industry has the potential to grow enormously. The spectrum of the creative sector stretches all the way from the pure and high arts to more commercial applications in graphics, design, fashion, new technologies, the Internet and new media. We believe that, in a world subject to powerful globalising forces, arts and culture help define New Zealand as a unique, dynamic and creative nation that stands tall in the world.
We are honouring - and will continue to honour - our commitment to give greater support to New Zealand's cultural sector. In May 2000, the Cultural Recovery Package of $86 million dealt with the financial problems of our significant national institutions, and boosted funding for Creative New Zealand and NZ on Air. This Government has also supported two new initiatives at the national level, the Film Production Fund and the Music Industry Commission, the latter in addition to the extra funding for New Zealand music promotion already allocated to NZ on Air.
Other areas of government policy - economic development, regulation, diplomacy, and employment - are also intended to contribute to the development of cultural industries. Among these policies is our undertaking to prohibit parallel importing of CDs, videos, films, books and software for periods of up to two years from first release. This policy is intended to encourage both investment by overseas companies and their local subsidiaries in New Zealand's cultural industries, and the promotion of the fruits of that investment off shore.
In order to craft a parallel-importing policy that would suit the circumstances of each of the creative industries under review, the Government asked the Ministry of Economic Development to consult extensively with all stakeholders. This paper presents the results of that consultation, and a summary of the advice we have received from officials in relation to the potential for parallel-importing restrictions to contribute to the Government's objective of encouraging greater support for the creative sector from overseas companies.
The consultation that has been carried out to date has not produced evidence of a strong link between bans on parallel importing and levels of international investment and overseas promotion in relation to the industries in question. It has served, however, to confirm that stakeholders in each industry have a number of concerns about parallel importing and the viability of their operations. Foremost amongst these are widespread concerns about piracy, a problem we take very seriously and propose to address with several measures that are explained in this paper.
This paper offers everyone concerned with the effects of parallel importing - producers, importers, retailers, consumers - an opportunity to assess the conclusions produced by our consultation. It provides a further chance to present to the Government evidence of the links between parallel importing and cultural investment and promotion, and to explain why these links are positive or negative.
We would welcome your submissions on the preliminary conclusions that officials have drawn, before we make final decisions.
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Hon Paul Swain
Minister of Commerce | Hon Judith Tizard
Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage |
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