French law obliges e-commerce sites to charge more for book deliveries
The French Senate passes a law that forces e-commerce websites to raise book delivery fees in favor of traditional bookstores to "promote fairness" in the book trade.
Amazon and other e-commerce sites in France will have to charge more for book deliveries, according to a law voted Thursday aimed at helping traditional bookstores survive the tough online competition.
The new rules target retail giants like Amazon, which charges the legal minimum of one euro cent ($0.01) for home book deliveries, leaving French publishers and stores unable to compete.
Laure Darcos, a senator sponsoring the law, accused Amazon of pursuing "a predatory business model" that had to be curbed.
In the future, book deliveries "cannot be offered free of charge" the new law says, but must carry a "minimum charge" the level of which will be set by the French government.
Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot said the law, which was backed by the National Assembly in October before winning unanimous Senate approval Thursday, will "promote fairness" in the book trade.
Amazon, which had been lobbying against the law, said the new measure would amputate the purchasing power of French consumers by an annual 250 million euros as delivery charges rise.
A spokesperson said that 40% of Amazon's book deliveries went to French areas with no bookshops which he said was the case for "90% of French municipalities".
France has 3,300 independent book shops, more than most other European countries, but they suffered during COVID lockdowns that kept customers away.