THE reported circulation levels of British newspapers in the Republic are set to fall, following a change of accounting rules by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC).
The ABC has decided that British newspaper publishers can no longer include copies sent to the Republic, but not sold, in their circulation figures.
The bureau, which is based in Britain and compiles circulation figures so that advertisers will have accurate information about newspaper sales, said the British publishers must now compile their figures on a "sale or return" basis.
The National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI) said the ABC had "closed the loophole which allowed British publishers to include tens of thousands of unsold copies of their newspapers in their circulation figures".
"We naturally welcome the findings of ABC's report. We feel that British newspapers selling here in Ireland have deliberately been overstating their figures," Mr Frank Cullen, coordinating director of the NNI, said.
The British trade magazine, Media week, said the circulation figures for the Sun and the Mirror could fall by up to 20,000 copies per day following the change.
However, News International, which publishes the Sun and other titles sold in the Republic, said it welcomed the ABC move, which it said it had sought in response to Mirror Group practices.
"This matter was the subject of a complaint by News International to ABC regarding Mirror Group in September 1995," a spokeswoman said.
"Because the ABC failed to act and Mirror Group refused to change their stance, we changed our accounting method for Irish sales in June 1996. News International were only using the full sales method because Mirror Group were distorting the market for British newspapers in Ireland, and we were not prepared to be disadvantaged against them."
There was no comment yesterday from Mirror Group.
Mr Ray Hall, general manager of the ABC, said the change would "give a clearer picture of actual sales of newspapers".
According to ABC figures for the second half of last year, compiled under the old method, the Mirror had a circulation of 59,851 daily in the Republic. News International's Sun was at 61,644 daily, while the figure for its Sunday Times was 65,753.