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Chapter D: Article 8

D 8.1 Subscriptions Received in Connection with an Advertising Contract

(a) Subscriptions received in connection with an advertising contract shall be included in Individual under the following conditions:

If at least one cent is charged over and above the regular advertising rate for the space covered by the contract and the advertising contract states specifically that if a subscription to the publication is not desired, the amount of the subscription price can be deducted from the amount of the contract and if such subscriptions are mailed individually to branch offices or employees.

(b) When such subscriptions are sent to the purchaser in bulk, they shall be designated as Multi-Copy - Same Addressee, unless satisfactory documentary evidence is on file in publisher's office showing that such copies sent in bulk are for distribution to employees, subsidiary companies or branch offices of such purchasers.

(c) These subscriptions shall be fully explained in the paragraph of the Publisher's Statements and Audit Reports devoted to general explanations.

(d) Subscriptions included in an advertising contract where no additional charge is made for such subscriptions over the regular price of the advertising space contracted for shall not be included in paid circulation, but shall be included in the "Miscellaneous" classification under Non-Qualified Circulation.

D 8.2 Premium Defined

(a) Premiums are anything offered to a subscriber at time of solicitation, in addition to regular issues of the publication itself, and shall be reported in Bureau reports as a premium, regardless of whether said extraneous thing be given with or without additional payment above the subscription price and whether or not such extraneous thing is given only to new subscribers or to all subscribers. In addition, any presentation to current subscribers which, in the opinion of the managing director, implies future receipt of such extraneous things in conjunction with continued (or future) subscriptions will cause renewal subscriptions to be judged as premium induced. The number of subscriptions, whether new or renewal, involving such premiums taken during any period for which Publisher's Statement is filed shall be reported in the paragraph designated for that purpose and the nature of the premium and the provisions of the offer and the distribution thereof shall be described in Publisher's Statements and Audit Reports.

Premiums are anything except:

(1) Complete issues of newspapers or periodicals sent to all subscribers for the period included in the offer.
(2) 'Door Openers' are defined as anything sent free by mail with a subscription offer, or provided by solicitor at the time of solicitation, that has been reprinted from, or is printed material directly related to, the publication making the subscription offer.
(3) Offers of sample merchandise to subscribers in connection with offers of subscription(s) in which the ordering and receipt of the sample product is not contingent upon ordering subscription(s).
(4) Merchandise offered to current paid subscribers as an inducement to convert payment methodology on future subscriptions. Such offers are to be made separate from subscription renewal efforts and are limited to inducements to subscribers to agree to ongoing (til forbid) continuous service which may include automatic billing process and/or debits to authorize credit card accounts.
(5) Free or discounted access to archive or back, or expanded content of the publication included as part of the subscription to the publication.
(6) Free or discounted access to the publication's website.
(7) Programs providing subscribers exclusive access to non-reoccurring functions or activities created by the publisher that are not also available to the general public, but are offered to existing subscribers, subsequent to the purchase of their subscription.
(8) Goodwill offerings to current subscribers by the publisher on a limited, random or isolated basis, which in the opinion of the managing director does not imply future receipt of such extraneous things in conjunction with continued (or future) subscriptions.

(b) If a back copy, either whole or part, is included in a subscription offer, the back copy shall be considered a premium, unless the subscription is taken on a retroactive basis in accord with the Bureau's back copy rule and the date of the back copy is such that it would have been included in the subscription even though not mentioned specifically in the offer.

(c) Periodicals and newspapers offered in combination sales shall not be set up as premiums but shall be reported in a special paragraph devoted to combination sales prices.

D 8.3 Premiums with Subscriptions/Single Copy Sales

(a) When a premium is used in connection with a subscription or single copy sales offer or implied to current subscribers in conjunction with continued or future subscriptions, the full value of the premium, whether stated or not, must be collected. The value of the premium is considered to be the actual cost to the publisher, or the recognized retail value, or the recognized retail value, or the represented value, whichever is highest.

In those situations where the cost to the publisher is used to calculate the premium value, set-up costs and shipping and handling fees to the publisher from the manufacturer shall not be considered.

In addition to the value of the premium the subscriber must pay at least the amounts required by D 1.1.

(b) Where the premium is a piece of merchandise or a service the value of which to the subscriber is, in the judgment of the managing director, not determinable by the method described above, the value shall be determined by comparison with the price at which other similar merchandise or service is available to the subscriber through commercial channels.

(c) When it has been determined by the Bureau that premiums have been given with subscriptions without the authority of the publisher, the Bureau shall take such steps as may be found practicable to ascertain how many subscriptions have been sold with said premiums and to disclose all the facts as to the validity of such subscriptions that are required to be ascertained when premiums are offered or authorized by publishers direct.

(d) In case the premiums have been furnished by a subscription agency or other publisher the entire production of subscriptions for the publication by such subscription agency or publisher shall be included in the Audit Report as premium subscriptions and if, by verification letter or other tests, it is shown that some of said subscriptions have been taken on such terms as would disqualify them from the paid classification under the premium rules, deductions shall be made from the total number of subscriptions furnished by the subscription agency or other publisher in the same proportion as the number of disqualified subscriptions in the test bears to the total number of replies received in the test.

(e) If the evidence in the test referred to in Paragraph (d) of this section reveals that the premiums have not been furnished or authorized by the publisher or the subscription agency, but by individual solicitors (whether employees of the publisher, other publishers, subscription agency, or independent salespeople), all the subscriptions produced by the solicitors involved shall be included as premium subscriptions and the same tests of validity of those subscriptions shall be made and the same ensuing procedure shall be followed concerning them as prescribed in Paragraph (d) of this section.

D 8.4 Premiums with Combination Sales

When a premium is used in connection with a combination of business publications the amount paid by the subscriber must not be less than the value of the premium as defined in Rule D 8.3 plus the amount required by Rule D 8.5. When a premium is used in connection with a combination of two or more publications, one of which is a business publication and the other a magazine, farm publication or newspaper, the amount paid by the subscriber must not be less than one cent for the business publication plus at least the qualifying amount as defined by the other publication's division plus the value of the premium, whether stated or not.

D 8.5 Subscription/Single Copy Sales in Combination

(a) A "forced" combination is defined as two or more publications offered or sold together for an amount less than the total of the basic prices of all the publications (as determined by D 1.1) and wherein all publications intend to qualify the distribution as "paid circulation," except:

When it is clearly made known to the purchaser that each of the publications may be purchased individually at the same price as if purchased as part of the group.

(b) When subscriptions for two or more publications are ordered or sold in combination by mail or through subscription salespeople the amount paid by the subscriber must not be less than one cent per business publication.

(1) When two subscriptions for two or more publications, one of which is a business publication and another a magazine, farm publication or newspaper, the amount paid by the subscriber must not be less than one cent for the business publication plus at least the qualifying amount as defined by the other publication's division.

(c) The amount of money to be allocated to each title in the combination sale offer for purposes of classification of the sales compared to basic prices (see D 1.2) shall be based on the offer presentation itself, if it includes references to the value of each subscription in the combination sale (the sum of which must total to the selling price for the combination sale), or the amount to be charged incrementally or reduced from the existing contract or renewal in the "add on" offer,or, if no such presentation is made, shall be based on the pro rata of each publication's basic price to the sales price.

(d) Existing and renewing business publication subscribers may qualify as paid under either of the two conditions:

(1) The offer to "add on" the combination publication requires an affirmative act on the part of the subscriber and incremental payment beyond the rate of the existing contract, or an option to reduce the rate of the existing contract if the offer is declined. The amount of incremental payment or reduction of rate from the existing contract must be clearly disclosed, and must be at least a qualifying amount as defined by the publication paid circulation defined rules.
(2) The offer to "add on" the combination publication requires notification to the subscriber and promotion materials shall not imply nor suggest that the add on business publication is "free" or "at no additional cost." The amount being paid for all publications involved in the combination must be at least a qualifying amount as defined by the publication paid circulation defined rules.

D 8.6 Subscriptions Paid for by Contestant

Subscriptions received in a contest and paid for by the contestant and not by the recipient shall not be recognized as conforming to any of the rules defining a paid subscriber but shall be included in the unpaid distribution and explained in the paragraph of Publisher's Statements and Audit Reports devoted to general explanations.

D 8.7 Subscriptions as Prizes

Subscriptions given as prizes through contests shall not be included in paid circulation. This includes subscriptions offered as premiums at county and state fairs.

D 8.8 Subscriptions Involving Charitable Donations

Circulation obtained through cooperation between a publisher and an organized charity, or other organization where the publisher makes a donation in return for and in proportion to the circulation so obtained, shall be described and included in the paragraphs of Publisher's Statements and Audit Reports devoted to such sales.

D 8.9 Subscriptions Paid for by Advertising

Any subscription obtained by one publisher from another and paid for in service by the insertion of an advertisement, may be included as paid circulation, provided proof of the insertion of the advertisement or other documentary evidence is available to establish the validity of such subscription, but in such cases the auditor shall explain in the paragraph of the Audit Reports devoted to general explanations that this procedure has been followed by the publisher.

D 8.10 Subscriptions Purchased with Award Points

Subscriptions to a publication purchased through the redemption of trading stamps or award points (to include frequent flyer miles) shall qualify as paid only upon satisfactory evidence that the cash value of the trading stamps or award points is equivalent to at least one cent. The transactions must be fully explained in Publisher's Statements. Adequate records must be available to verify that the proper payment has been received.

D 8.11 Credit Subscriptions

(a) A subscription which is sold on a promise-to-pay basis shall be regarded as a "credit subscription" and such subscriptions will qualify as paid circulation provided:

(1) The term of the obligation to pay is not for more than three months.
(2) The subscriber pays the sum billed.
(3) That the amount charged is sufficient to meet the requirements of the Bureau's rules in all other respects.

(b) If in any case the publisher is obliged to cancel the subscription because of non-payment, the number of copies served thereon shall be established and deducted from paid circulation and included in unpaid distribution.

(c) To qualify as paid circulation, credit subscriptions must be paid as follows:

(1) If sold within North America and the West Indies, payment must be made within six months after start of service for business publications.
(2) If sold outside North America and the West Indies, payment must be made within nine months after start of service.

Copies served on subscriptions which are not paid in accordance with (c) (1) or (c) (2) above and have not been previously cancelled shall automatically be ineligible for inclusion in paid circulation and shall be included in unpaid distribution.

D 8.12 Installment Subscriptions

On a subscription payable in installments, or payable on delivery, only those copies shall be shown in paid circulation that are actually paid for until at least 50 percent of the original order has been paid, when the subscription automatically qualifies as paid for full term of order.