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The EU’s Competition Commissioner has said he is “trying to understand” the stand-off between Amazon and Hachette in the US.
The online retailer and the publisher, which is owned by French company Lagardere, are currently in a dispute thought to be focused on the renegotiation of e-book terms. The stand-off has led to delays in shipments of some Hachette titles in the US, and the removal of the pre-order button on the Amazon listings of others.
Speaking to reporters while attending a conference in London, the EU’s Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said the Commission was "looking into this and trying to understand."
Amazon is also thought to be negotiating terms in Germany with Sweden’s Bonnier Group, which owns a number of German trade publishers, and claims have been made that the online retailer is delaying shipping of books.
HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, Hachette Livre and Apple settled an antitrust case with the EU over agency pricing in 2012, with Penguin reaching an agreement in April last year.
This week the French cultural product chain trade association - the Syndicat des Distributeurs de Loisirs Culturels - accused Amazon of acting in its own interests rather than those of its customers in its battle with Hachette, saying the showdown would affect decisions taken in other countries, including France.
The French culture minister has also called for the European Commission (EC) to take measures to prevent abuse of dominance by Amazon.
In America the Wall Street Journal revealed this week that the US Justice Department now gone back to Hachette Book Group, Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins asking about any recent pricing discussions they may have had with others in the industry.
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/publishers-reach-agreement-ec-over-age...