News

France calls for regulation of e-book prices

29.03.11 | Barbara Casassus

French culture minister Frédéric Mitterrand has called for the European Union to regulate e-book prices as soon as possible, and to introduce a reduced rate of VAT on all cultural goods and services, whether they are sold online or through bricks and mortar outlets.

Mitterrand, who is in Budapest attending an informal meeting of EU cultural ministers, urged a Europe-wide debate on e-book prices, and said a "rapid regulation [of them] is indispensable".

A bill to allow publishers to fix e-book prices is on its way through French parliament, despite objections from the European Commission. EC competition officials conducted dawn raids on five French publishers at the beginning of the month on suspicion of forming a cartel to drive up digital book prices through agency pricing.

In a statement released today [29th March], Mitterrand said he was backed by Germany and Poland on the VAT issue, and stressed the need for the EU to inject more cash into culture through structural funds and other programmes. "In the new digital context, the challenges of competitiveness coexist with the imperative of promoting cultural diversity," he said.

Trackback URL for this post:

http://www.thebookseller.com/trackback/39213

Comments: Scroll down for the latest comments and to have your say

By posting on this website you agree to the Bookseller comments policy. Comments go direct to live please be relevant, brief and definitely not abusive. Report any "unsuitable comments by clicking the links"

Post new comment

Due to persistent spam problems we are now asking users to register before submitting comments. If you have already registered or are a subscriber then please log in now. Otherwise you can use the simple form below to register when you submit your comment. Your comment will go live once you click the validation link in the email. Comments still go live without moderation.
You should use this name when logging into your account.
This name will be displayed when you comment on the site.
The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <br> <p> <img>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

More information about formatting options

Type the characters you see in this picture. (verify using audio)
Type the characters you see in the picture above; if you can't read them, submit the form and a new image will be generated. Not case sensitive.

Latest Jobs

Editor
Quid Publishing, part of the Quarto...
Competitive
Assistant Editor
The Royal Academy of Arts is one of...
£23,950 plus attractive benefits
Sales Manager: Healthcare
A prestigious scientific membership...
Available on request
 

TheBookseller