The Senate adopted on Tuesday at first reading, with the strong support of the government, a bill carried by Laure Darcos (LR), whose flagship measure aims to protect independent bookstores from a
"distortion of competition"
of online platforms .
"The book is not a good like the others"
, underlined the Minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot, welcoming a
"welcome text"
carrying
"a very important strengthening of our regulation of the price of the book"
.
An unsuccessful amendment also sought to establish a single price for the audiobook.
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Very widely supported on the right and on the left, as well as by the government, the text benefits from the accelerated procedure, which augurs a favorable fate for its arrival in the National Assembly.
As the Minister of Culture underlined, its adoption will make it possible
"to adapt the book world to the digital age, to rebalance the often complex relations between publishers and authors
".
Chance of the calendar, the examination of this bill comes just a few weeks after the fortieth anniversary of the Lang law, which had established the single price of the book.
Resist Amazon
The proposed law aims primarily to rebalance competition between bookstores and online platforms, while the health crisis has revived the debate on the place of bookstores.
It thus proposes the establishment of a floor price - fixed by decree - invoiced to the customer for the costs of sending books, in order to put an end to the free of these costs often offered by digital players like Amazon, and '' encourage urban readers to visit their neighborhood bookstore.
Online shopping sites should also clearly distinguish between new and used books.
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For Laure Darcos, the argument according to which
“Amazon is the defender of rurality and the most modest”
would be exaggerated:
“its main market is in large cities, with favored socio-professional categories, perfectly capable of absorbing an increase in delivery rates
, ”she said. The rapporteur of the Committee on Economic Affairs Martine Berthet (LR), nevertheless stressed that this provision
"should lead to a drastic increase in the price of books (...), without the booksellers gaining additional customers"
.
The text also authorizes local authorities to grant a subsidy to independent bookstores, up to a limit of 30% of their turnover, and regulates book balances by publishers. For Jérémy Bacchi (predominantly Communist CRCE),
"what is at stake here is the preservation of independent bookstores vis-à-vis the giants of the net, the preservation of the cultural heritage of France and the protection of authors"
. "
We also defend a model of society
", underlined Catherine Morin-Desailly (centrist), while the rapporteur Céline Boulay-Espéronnier (LR) considered essential to
"encourage our fellow citizens to go to bookstores more often"
. The text also modernizes legal deposit to adapt it to the specificities of digital technology and regulates certain publishing practices.