An amount paid to the trade by whatever name called plus any additional incentives / benefit which is directly connected with selling / distribution of the newspaper paid to the trade, the same shall be totalled to arrive at the gross trade term payable to the trade for distributing copies.

An amount not connected with distribution of copies paid / reimbursed to the trade for which supportings are available may not be considered as part of the trade term. The trade term should be calculated on the cover price of a publication.

Actual cost of transporting publications from the printing location to the distribution centres as per contractual arrangements made by the publisher do not form part of the delivery charges or trade term.

Commission and allowances etc. mutually agreed to between the publisher and the distributing trade and paid continuously and consistently.

Apart from basic commission, it may include other facilities such as office allowances, transport allowances, bonuses, rewards, incentives, ex-gratia payments, value of gifts/ incentives consistently offered under any scheme to the distribution trade.

However, if a gift or a reward is announced on specific occasion which is based on the performance of a particular agent from a group of agents or is subject to a draw of lottery pursuant to a sales promotion scheme, then such gifts shall be considered more or less as a sales promotion scheme rather than a part of the trade term (Unless Auditors/Bureau having evidence to the contrary).

However, reimbursement made by the publisher for expenses actually incurred by the distributing trade on their behalf for services rendered other than those relating to the sale of copies shall not be included in the gross trade terms provided, necessary documentary evidence in support of actual expenses incurred by agents for such services is available for auditors’ verification.

Information on gift schemes run for the benefit of the agents should be declared in the Incoming Certificate and made available to the Auditors at the time of circulation audit. Written records should be kept by all publishers for all such schemes.