This presentation by Germany was made during the discussion “Competition Issues in Books and E-Books” held at the 72nd meeting of the OECD Working Party No. 2 on Competition and Regulation on 29 November 2021. More papers and presentations on the topic can be found out at oe.cd/cbeb.

1. Experience with Price Regulation on Books
in Germany
Dr. Thorsten Käseberg
Head of Unit Competition Policy, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy
thorsten.kaeseberg@bmwi.bund.de

2. General Remarks
In competition policy, Germany supports the prohibition of fixed
prices in antitrust law.
In cultural policy, the German legislator considers fixed book prices to
be indispensable for protecting books as cultural asset.
Legislative solution: Specific exemption for books from prohibition of
vertical price fixing.
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3. Book market in Germany 2020
9.3 billion euros of turnover for the book industry (2019: 9.29 billion
EUR).
The physical bookstore business remained the largest sales channel
for books with 3.9 billion EUR and a share of 42 per cent.
The share of turnover of the internet book trade in the total market
was thus 24.1 per cent (2019: 20 per cent).
Local bookstores have made in the general public book market the
most significant gains in online business (growth rate at 27.2 per
cent).
Sales of ebook downloads on the general public book market rose by
16.2 per cent, increasing their share of sales from 5 to 5.9 per cent.
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4. German Book Price Fixing Act
Goal: Protection of books as cultural objects.
Prohibition of price competition at book trade level.
 to achieve a wide range of books for the general public through a
large number of retailers.
The publisher is obliged to set a price for the sale of the book, which
the dealer must adhere to when selling the book.
Unanimous political support.
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5. Studies
Monopolies Commission Special Report 2018
Result: concerns about unclear effects.
Economic report from the University of Giessen (Prof. Götz) with
comprehensive data analyzes (2019)
Result: a wider range of books; without price maintenance bestsellers
would be cheaper, the average price would be higher and there would be
negative effects on book trade.
Legal report from the University of Osnabrück (Prof. Fuchs)
Result: conformity of the fixed book price with EU law.
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6. Monopolies Commission
Special Report 2018
 The protection of books as cultural objects is to be recognized, in principle,
as an overriding requierement in the public interest. From an economic
perspective, the Monopolies Commission has considerable concerns.
 From an economic point of view, fixed book prices have ambivalent and
unclear effects:
 higher prices for mass-market titles,
 price-reducing effects for titles with lower demand.
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7. Conclusions
Monopolies Commission: „ …a conclusive statement about the
justification of book prices is impossible.“
All studies confirm
 the existence of a nationwide book trade structure in DEU
 resulting in increased demand and sales of (a wider range of) books
 high service offer
 a low average price level for books
 guarantee of the market access for small publishers and unknown
authors.
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