The European Commission has adopted a statement objecting to the German system of fixed price book sales, which threatens the on-line trade of books between member states. The Commission argues that German publishers and booksellers have failed to act in accordance with an understanding reached in Spring 2001.

The understanding was intended to ensure that the German system named “Sammelrevers” does not lead to an infringement of EU competition rules or any appreciable effects on trade between member states. The statement outlines two preliminary findings of the Commission resulting from inspections carried out in August 2000.

According to the statement, the first finding is that:

“contrary to the… understanding, direct cross-border sales of books to final consumers via the internet at a price other than the fixed price for Germany have been systematically regarded as a circumvention of the system.”

The Commission sees this as a threat to trade between member states, since it prevents sales of German books on-line at competitive prices, even where the retailer is based in another member state. This leads to the second finding that:

“...the refusals by certain German publishers and book-wholesalers to supply internet booksellers established outside of Germany to prevent direct cross-border sales of books to consumers at a price other than the fixed price for Germany were based on illegal collusion...”

The Commission concludes that these restrictive practices limit the scope for consumers to enjoy the benefits of on-line book sales.

We are processing your request. \n Thank you for your patience. An error occurred. This could be due to inactivity on the page - please try again.