RED TAPE RULES IN FRANCE
France hits Amazon with €1,000 a day fine
By James Hall writing in The Daily Telegraph
Amazon, the US online retail giant, is paying a daily fine of €1,000 to a French trade association after it defied a Paris court ruling banning it from delivering books for free in France.
A 25-year-old anti-discount law in France means that book retailers are only able to offer discounts of 5pc on books they sell. In December a Paris court ruled that Amazon's practice of offering free delivery violated this so-called Lang Law, which dates back to 1981.
However Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder, has decided to defy the French courts in an attempt to change what he sees as a restrictive practice. In doing so he is paying the daily fine to the French Booksellers Association, Syndicat de la Librairie Française (SLF), which brought the case.
Mr Bezos has posted a message on Amazon's French web site describing the ban on free delivery as "incredible". He has urged French customers to sign a petition to force a change to the law.
So far 140,000 customers are believed to have signed.
In the online message Bezos says that the SLF's action is "a cynical attempt to eliminate competition from Amazon.fr".
The SLF could also target other online retailers, such as domestic operators FNAC and Chapitre.com.
By James Hall writing in The Daily Telegraph
Amazon, the US online retail giant, is paying a daily fine of €1,000 to a French trade association after it defied a Paris court ruling banning it from delivering books for free in France.
A 25-year-old anti-discount law in France means that book retailers are only able to offer discounts of 5pc on books they sell. In December a Paris court ruled that Amazon's practice of offering free delivery violated this so-called Lang Law, which dates back to 1981.
However Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder, has decided to defy the French courts in an attempt to change what he sees as a restrictive practice. In doing so he is paying the daily fine to the French Booksellers Association, Syndicat de la Librairie Française (SLF), which brought the case.
Mr Bezos has posted a message on Amazon's French web site describing the ban on free delivery as "incredible". He has urged French customers to sign a petition to force a change to the law.
So far 140,000 customers are believed to have signed.
In the online message Bezos says that the SLF's action is "a cynical attempt to eliminate competition from Amazon.fr".
The SLF could also target other online retailers, such as domestic operators FNAC and Chapitre.com.
In his message, Mr Bezos says that the irony of the SLF's tactic is that is it reducing the choice available to shoppers, rather than increasing it, as was the Lang Law's original intention. He warns French shoppers that the effect of the ban in free delivery would push prices up.
"France would be thus the only country in the world where the free delivery practised by Amazon would be declared illegal," he adds.
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