France Shields Bookstores From Amazon.com

France Shields Bookstores From Amazon.com
Employees work at an Amazon facility, Dec. 13, 2012, in Chalon-sur-Saone, France. (PHILIPPE MERLE/AFP/Getty Images)
Catherine Yang
10/3/2013
Updated:
7/18/2015

Web-retailers like Amazon.com Inc. could be banned from offering free shipping on discounted books in France under new legislation.

Amazon responded saying this bill would only limit consumers.

“Any measure aimed at raising the price of books will only reduce French people’s spending power and introduce discrimination against online consumers,” Amazon told AFP. 

The ruling Socialist Party and conservative UMP party jointly approved the law Thursday, responding to complaints from smaller book sellers. France has 3,000 independent bookstores, according to the BBC, and many of these shops are struggling to compete with the discounts Amazon offers.

According to government figures, book sales dropped 4.5 percent in 2012, and 17 percent of all books are bought are online.

The so called Lang Law fixes prices of new books, and all retailers can only lower the set price by 5 percent. The amendment passed Thursday bars retailers from adding free shipping to an already discounted new book. The bill now needs to be passed by the Senate and signed by the president. 

According to French publication le Monde, these discounts are only offered by Amazon and Groupe Fnac.

“The (book pricing) law is part of our cultural heritage,” said the bill’s co-sponsor Christian Kert, according to Reuters. 

This isn’t the first time Amazon faced troubles in France. Earlier this year French Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti criticized Amazon, saying the company “slashes prices to get a foothold in markets only to raise them once they have established a virtual monopoly.”