Council resolution of 12 February 2001 on the application of national fixed book-price systems
Date: 2001-02-12
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: book trade, competition law, cultural policy, free movement of goods, intra-EU trade, prices

6.3.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 73/5

COUNCIL RESOLUTION

of 12 February 2001

on the application of national fixed book-price systems

(2001/C 73/03)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

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RECALLING that the Community should take cultural
aspects into account in its actions, in particular in order
to respect and to promote the diversity of its culture;

RECALLING that in its Decision of 21 August 1997 and
later in its Resolution of 8 February 1999, echoed by the
Cologne European Council on 3 and 4 June 1999, it
recognised the dual character of books as the bearers of
cultural values and as merchandise, and the need for a
balanced assessment of the cultural and economic aspects
of books;

RECALLING the freedom of each Member State, in its
policy on books and reading, to decide whether or not to
apply a national statutory or contractual book-price
system;

CONSIDERING the attachment of several Member States
to national fixed-price systems for books, as a way of
taking into account the specific cultural and economic
character of books and of giving readers access, under
optimum conditions, to the widest possible supply;

RECALLING the Decisions and the positions taken by the
Commission on the subject, and particularly the letter
dated 12 November 1998 from the Members of the
Commission responsible for culture and for competition
to the Ministers of Cultural Affairs;

TAKING NOTE of the proceedings of the Conference on
the Book Market in the European Cultural Area held in
Strasbourg on 29 and 30 September 2000, which helped
to delve deeper into the singular nature of books,
developments in their distribution, ways of regulating

book markets and the impact of digital technology on
their economic aspects;

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REAFFIRMS that homogeneous linguistic areas are an
important area for distributing books and add a cross-
border dimension to the book market, which needs to be
taken into account;

CONSIDERS that the emergence of e-commerce, changing
the legal and economic landscape of the book sector, may
extend the dissemination of books but may also affect,
inter alia, existing national fixed book-price systems;

CONSIDERS that, under these circumstances, achieving
the cultural objectives pursued by the existing national
fixed book-price systems requires account to be taken of
the cross-border dimension of certain book markets, in
accordance with Community law;

INVITES THE COMMISSION:

(a) when applying competition rules and rules on the free
movement of goods, to take account of the specific value
of the book as a cultural object and the importance of
books in promoting cultural diversity, and of the cross-
border dimension of the book market;

(b) when examining national rules and agreements on fixed
insofar as they affect trade between the

book prices,
Member States, to pay particular attention to:

— the risk of the development of evasion,

— the consequences of the development of e-com-

merce,

— questions relating to imports between countries

practising fixed book-price systems.