The Association's milestones
• In 1931 the first Lisbon and Porto Book Fairs are held;
• In 1939 the and association becomes the National Guild of Publishers Booksellers;
• From May 1974 it is renamed the Portuguese Publishers and Booksellers Association (APEL);
• On 4 May 1995 APEL is recognised as a Public Utility Legal Entity, pursuant to Decree Law No. 460/77 of 7 November;
Services
• organizing the Lisbon Book Fair and, until 2012, the Porto Book Fair;;
• promoting the representation of the Portuguese book sector in several international book events, especially the Frankfurt Book Fair;
• making the bibliographic research/information available in the National and International Fairs in which it participates, proposing to extend such information to regional fairs and the general public;
• providing the ISBN service in Portugal, and for the Portuguese speaking countries (except Brazil) to whom we have cooperation agreements;
• promoting information actions for booksellers, publishers, distributors and sellers;
• active search of illegal digital content;
• providing its members with legal advice on matters of the sector;
• advising members wishing to apply for Community or national support for the development of their companies.
