The Council of State asks the European Court to rule on several points and to say in particular whether or not European Union law provides for a derogation from “a national measure governing the exercise, on the territory of the Member State, of a service activity with a view to protecting or promoting cultural diversity”.
Encourage buyers to go to bookstores
With its decree targeting Amazon, the government’s objective was to apply the law of December 30, 2021 on the “book economy”, which aimed to encourage book buyers to go to bookstores, in order to avoid these shipping costs.
Amazon believes that this measure is “contrary to the rights and interests of consumers” and that it can “penalize readers, authors and reading in general”.
The company argues that its “online offering and that of booksellers are in reality complementary, with nearly one in two books sold by Amazon being shipped to small towns and countryside, that is to say to territories often deprived bookstore”.