Rome, January 12, 2026 — The Italian authority has closed its market inquiry into the school publishing sector, calling for a more effective use of digital educational resources and closer coordination between the education ministry and publishers to ease cost pressures on families and improve competition.
The inquiry covered a market affecting nearly 8 million students and 1 million teachers each year. According to the authority, the average household spends around €580 over the full cycle of lower secondary education and €1,250 for upper secondary education, with the market for new textbooks valued at about €800 million annually and the second-hand segment at roughly €150 million.
Market Structure and Pricing
The authority found the sector to be highly concentrated, with four publishing groups — Mondadori, Zanichelli, Sanoma, and La Scuola — accounting for more than 80% of sales.
While prices for new textbooks have risen broadly in line with inflation, the decline in purchasing power has made education costs more burdensome for families. Support schemes remain uneven across regions.
The authority also flagged Italy’s statutory cap limiting discounts on school textbooks to 15% of the cover price, noting that the rule restricts competition and disadvantages consumers. At the same time, it said collective negotiations between publishers and retailers could, in some cases, allow for deeper discounts and improve consumer outcomes.
Open Resources and Innovation
The inquiry highlighted the potential for open educational resources and school-produced materials to reduce costs and stimulate innovation, including through more personalised learning supported by artificial intelligence tools. However, the authority said current rules and a lack of concrete incentives continue to limit their development, making it unlikely that such alternatives can effectively compete with commercial publishing without policy changes.
Digital Content Underused
Despite reforms launched in 2012, digital resources remain significantly underused in Italian schools. More than 95% of classes adopt combined paper-and-digital textbooks, yet only 16% of digital licences are activated.
The authority identified restrictive licensing terms and poor interoperability between platforms as key barriers, penalising the second-hand market and textbook lending schemes. During the final phase of the inquiry, major publishers signalled a willingness to revise licence conditions, including allowing low-cost reactivation of licences, longer access periods, and printing of digital content.
The authority said it hopes these measures will become standard practice and be supported by institutional initiatives.
Next Steps
The education ministry has launched initiatives to improve accessibility and interoperability, including a unified authentication system. Publishers and their trade association have also committed to greater transparency between editions, including changes to self-regulatory codes.
The inquiry further identified scope for modular textbook solutions — such as QR code-based content — to reduce book weight, which in Italy is at least double the European average, and to allow more flexible replacement of content.
The authority has sent a formal recommendation to the ministry and other relevant institutions and said it will continue monitoring the sector.
Source: https://www.agcm.it/media/comunicati-stampa/2026/1/IC57-S5377
