Introduction: what is a fixed book price?

Under a fixed book price regime, books can generally be distributed to the final consumer only in consideration for a price as it was fixed by the publisher in cooperation with booksellers.  This means that, at least for a certain period of time, a given title costs the same throughout a country operating a fixed book price system, subject only to limited exceptions and strict rebate conditions.

 

In many countries, fixed book price systems are established and governed by law (e.g. Germany, France). In other countries, booksellers and publishers can contractually agree on the terms under which books are to be sold in some form of trade agreement.

 

Fixed book price systems are known for more than 150 years, but they are not merely an old-fashioned book policy of the past: the laws on fixed book prices from many EU countries only date a couple of years back; other jurisdictions are only now considering the introduction of a fixed book price system.

 

The views of national policy makers on the merits of a fixed book price are manifold, and sometimes change over the time. Some countries abolish the fixed book price system (e.g. Sweden, Finland, UK), some re-introduce it following its abolition (France); and indeed, for any society based on a market economy, a regime of fixed prices must seem to be quite a strange concept: retailers cannot freely determine the price for the products they sell; prices are not linked to consumer demand or production costs.