Press Release: Commission re-opens proceedings concerning the German system of fixed book prices because of its effects on cross-border Internet bookselling

The European Commission has adopted a statement of objections to certain practices of German publishers and book-wholesalers regarding the application of the so-called 'Sammelrevers' system of fixed book prices to direct cross-border sales of books to final consumers. It has come to the preliminary conclusion that the way the 'Sammelrevers' has been applied is not compatible with the understanding reached between the Commission and the German publishers and booksellers in spring of 2000 on the future application of this system. This understanding was aimed at bringing the 'Sammelrevers' in line with Community law by ensuring that its application has no appreciable effects on trade between Member States leading to an infringement of the competition rules of the EC Treaty. On the one hand, the Commission preliminarily finds that, contrary to the above-mentioned 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. On the other hand, the Commission preliminarily finds that the refusals by certain German publishers and book-wholesalers to supply Internet booksellers established outside 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 and therefore also infringe the competition rules.