WRITTEN QUESTION No. 200/98 by Hilde HAWLICEK to the Commission. Timing of investigation into book price agreements in Germany and Austria
Date: 1998-02-11
Institutions: European Parliament, HAWLICEK
Subjects: Austria, Germany, book trade, bookshop, free competition, publisher, publishing, selling price













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91998E0200

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 200/98 by Hilde HAWLICEK to the Commission. Timing of investigation into book price agreements in Germany and Austria  


Official Journal C 310 , 09/10/1998 P. 0036 





WRITTEN QUESTION E-0200/98 by Hilde Hawlicek (PSE) to the Commission (11 February 1998)Subject: Timing of investigation into book price agreements in Germany and AustriaOn Wednesday, 14 January 1998 the European Commission opened an investigation into cross-border book agreements in Germany and Austria. Since this matter essentially involves whether Article 85 or Article 128 ECT applies, the following questions arise:Why did the Commission institute proceedings at a time when a key element - the expert opinion requested by the Council of Ministers of Cultural Affairs on whether price agreements are justified pursuant to Article 128 ECT - had not been received?What is the Commission's attitude towards the arguments for justifying price agreements: regional and national supply; variety in production and distribution; promoting new authors, cultural publishers and cultural minorities; and the fact that such agreements have stood the test of time in the German-speaking countries?What is its attitude towards the conclusions expressed by experts that only about 150 of the 70 000 new titles every year would be cheaper but the rest would be appreciably more expensive, and that in Austria alone 200 of a current total of 770 bookshops have had to close?Answer given by Mr Van Miert on behalf of the Commission (2 April 1998)The Commission has consistently maintained that the Council's initiative in instructing the Commission to prepare a report pursuant to Article 152 of the EC Treaty should be considered independent of the competition proceedings concerning the German/Austrian price-fixing scheme for books ('Buchpreisbindung') provided that the proceedings in question are not impeded as a result. In this competition case, in which the publishers submitted the notification in the spring of 1993 and for which the Commission is solely competent, formal proceedings had to be instituted after the Commission had made a careful examination of the publishers' arguments and come to the provisional conclusion that exemption was not justified.The arguments of the parties, such as supply over a particular area, were assessed in detail by the Commission in the statement of objections which it sent to the parties.The Honourable Member states in her question that experts believe that only about 150 of the 70 000 new titles every year would be cheaper while the rest would be appreciably more expensive and that in Austria 200 of the 770 existing bookshops have had to close. Unfortunately, she omits to mention who these experts might be and on which studies or other findings they base their conclusions. It is therefore not possible for the Commission to make any detailed comment on this matter at present. In the United Kingdom, for example, two years after the lifting of the book price agreement, there has not yet been any marked fall in the number of bookshops.