Bokhandlingsloven

Bokhandlingsloven, literally “the Bookshop Act,” is a term used for laws that regulated the retail sale and distribution of books within Nordic contexts, most often encountered in historical discussions. In Norway and Denmark, references to bokhandlingsloven appear in descriptions of how bookshops were licensed, how books were imported and sold, and how the book trade was organized to support publishing and access to literature during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Typical provisions in older versions of bokhandlingsloven concerned requirements to obtain a license to operate a bookshop, rules on book pricing or discounts, and regulations governing import and distribution of books to ensure availability. Some variants included cultural or national objectives, such as promoting literature in a local language or safeguarding certain publishing interests. The exact content varied by country and period, and some laws reflected protectionist or cultural policy aims rather than broad consumer rights.

In contemporary contexts, book retail is generally governed by broader legislation, including consumer protection, competition, copyright, and import regulations. A specific nationwide act named bokhandlingsloven is not a central part of modern Norwegian or Danish law in the same form as before; the term today is mainly of historical or historiographical use and may appear in academic texts, archival material, or discussions of past regulation of the book market.