Sondergutachten 80: Die Buchpreisbindung in einem sich ändernden Marktumfeld

In its 80th special report “Fixed book prices in a changing market environment”, the Monopolies Commission examines the statutory fixed book prices from a competitive and legal perspective. Fixed book prices constitute a severe market intervention with the undefined aim of protecting the “cultural property of the book”. Its implications are ambivalent and unclear and the legal regulations do not take the development of the market since their implementation sufficiently into account. It is not impossible – in the case of e-books, even probable – that the European Court of Justice will declare fixed book prices incompatible with the free movement of goods in Europe. Consequently, distributors operating across borders would benefit from a competitive advantage over the price-bound national stationary book trade. On the basis of this assessment, the Monopolies Commission recommends abolishing the practice.