In a judgment published on Thursday 18 December (Case C-366/24), the Court of Justice of the European Union concluded that the imposition at national level of minimum tariffs for the home delivery of books should be analysed in the light of the rules on the free movement of goods.
The matter was referred to the Court by the French Conseil d’État following an appeal by the Amazon EU company against a French judgment of 2023 setting a minimum charge of €3 for the home delivery of new books for orders under €35. Beyond that, delivery can be virtually free of charge.
Amazon argued that this measure infringed the e-commerce Directive (2000/31) and the Directive on services in the internal market (2006/123), as well as the principle of the free movement of goods. The French government invoked the protection of cultural and editorial diversity.
The Court held that, since the measure was intended to promote cultural diversity, its compatibility with Union law could not be examined in the light of the two Directives cited, which expressly excluded cultural measures from their scope.
However, the national measure must still comply with primary EU law. The Court considers that the measure primarily affects the sale price of books, and therefore of goods, and must be assessed solely in the light of the free movement of goods.
The Court concludes that the imposition of minimum delivery tariffs is not a mere “selling arrangement”, but rather a measure having equivalent effect to a quantitative restriction on imports. This type of measure, which is likely to hinder “directly or indirectly, actually or potentially” trade within the European Union, is in principle prohibited.
However, the Court did not rule on whether the measure in question could be justified.
To see the judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/k3b (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)