Dear LIS Professionals, We know that printed books, journals and newspapers are exempted from GST. However online journals , databases, eBooks and eLearning subscription were/are covered under 18% GST charges. During its 25th Meeting on 18th January 2018 in New Delhi, GST Council has recommended many relief measures regarding GST rates on goods and services covering many sectors and commodities. Exemption from GST has been considered on subscription of online educational journals/periodicals. Point no. 27 in the notification available at http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=175726 is stated as "To exempt subscription of online educational journals/periodicals by educational institutions who provide degree recognized by any law from GST". It is a great relief for library subscription in an educational/technical institutions, colleges, and universities awarding degrees. But is again vague for online subscription by a library of other type of organization. We should appreciate the persons/groups/organizations/agencies in bringing out at least some thing for libraries. But we should try to explicitly get incorporated library subscriptions similar to General Financial Rules (GFR) of Government of India where it says 'Library books, publications, periodicals, etc. are excluded from term 'goods'. From this exemption, I understand that : 1. This proposition was submitted and represented by a non-library professional/administration person. 2. There is no mention of 'Library'. This means except online Journals/periodicals all other online subscriptions may be under 18% GST. For example: eBooks, Scopus, Web of Science, Plagiarism tools, Research Tools, Aggregated contents, Reports, Online Courses, Databases, Digital Libraries. 3. Except educational institutions, all other libraries(Govt, R&D, Public Library, special library, NGOs) online subscriptions are under 18% GST including journals/periodicals. Let's write and represent our concerns to GST Council in individual/group/agency/organization/association capacity to come out with explicit tax rules for library procurement and subscriptions. I am going to write/approach GST council. with regards. ------------------------------ Pradip Kumar Upadhyay Senior Technical Director & Officer Incharge Library National Informatics Centre (NIC) Block-A, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road New Delhi- 110003 Ph: 91-11-24360567, 24305481 -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.