Fleur Pellerin, Minister of Culture and Communication, welcomes the success of the conciliation conducted by the Book Ombudsman, Laurence Engel, on digital subscription reading offers.
Thanks to the intervention of the Ombudsman, referred by the Minister on 24 December 2014, a solution was found with each of the six companies in non-compliance with the law. All have undertaken to adapt their offer by the end of the year to ensure compatibility with the existing legislative framework.
The wealth of solutions proposed by these companies, many of which are French "start-ups", testifies to the flexibility of the law that regulates the price of books since 1981. Extended to e-books in 2011, it continues to encourage innovation and the emergence of new offerings, adapting to citizens' expectations, while protecting the foundations of the vitality of the book industry in France: the remuneration for creation and the diversity of the offer offered to readers. These new solutions show that the regulation of the price of books has lost none of its relevance in the digital age.
The favourable outcome of this first conciliation also confirms the relevance of the Ombudsman’s role for the book industry. The quality of the exchanges with all the actors concerned and the final agreement reached with each one show that the Book Ombudsman was able to quickly find her place in the sector. The Minister welcomes the work undertaken by Laurence Engel to reach this positive conclusion.