THE 9^th LONDON AUTHORITIES BILL

The draft Bill has in its Part IV, in clause 92g, the exclusion from the requirement to register of "a person engaged in business as a dealer in second-hand books, in respect of his business as such". The Kent County Council Act 2001 had exactly the same exclusion, word for word. Our interpretation of that then was that the Kent Bill recognised the case made by the ABA and PBFA that our members are well regulated and therefore do not need to be licensed by the Bill.

Our Rules define antiquarian booksellers as "individuals, sole traders, partnerships, companies, and corporations having Antiquarian Book departments, routinely and professionally engaged in purchasing, valuing, pricing and selling Antiquarian Books". And the ABA’s Memorandum of Association defines "Antiquarian Books" by stating "antiquarian, rare and collectable books, manuscripts, autographs, photographs, music, antiquarian maps and graphics, and related materials (hereinafter called collectively "Antiquarian Books")".

Therefore our members come under the exclusion in the Bill in respect of their business as such. And so, even if they sell maps and prints, they should be excluded. We feel that the authorities in Kent have used the same interpretation and not concerned themselves with our members who have maps and prints etc. We also feel that, if challenged, we could make a good case that the spirit of the law, and probably the letter, exclude our members.

Reviewed February 2007