Contract English assistance needed

[J.Tousley@iaea.org]

We are looking at a contract from Elsevier for ScienceDirect, for which
we are highly interested in completing a contract, but I find one clause
that totally baffles me.    I see an attempt at double speak that gives
me alarm.

Can I ask you to read over the following sentence, and give us your
interpretations?   Is this a clause that I should be concerned about, or
has there just been a major English mistake here?  [When it comes to
contracts that have been handled by lawyers, I'm hard pressed to believe
in simple mistakes.] 

"Subscriber may elect to substitute Elsevier print publications, provided,
however, that it may request such substitutions or exchanges only one time
each year.  The total value of the print publications received at full
list catalogue prices may not be less than the value of the paid print
subscriptions."

Your considerations will be highly appreciated.

Regards,
Joanna Tousley-Escalante

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