Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-05-15-Speech-3-335"
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"en.20020515.13.3-335"2
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". – Mr President, I should like to wish the honourable Member many happy returns for tomorrow. I have to say that I have just had my birthday. I began speaking this morning at 9 a.m., just after my birthday, and I am delighted – six debates later on – to be almost welcoming the honourable Member's birthday. Anyway, it is a pleasure to have begun the proceedings today and to be bringing the curtain down in this exciting debate, a debate whose excitement has been greatly enhanced by discovering that the honourable Member has found a remaindered copy of one of my books. I hope it was not a signed copy, as well as remaindered! But I can assure him that he could have got many cheap copies among those that were pirated in Asia over the last three or four years.
The Commission will examine Parliament’s proposed directive in the light of the case-law of the Court and will assess, in consultation with the Member States, whether or not an initiative is necessary and what form it should take. At this stage however, there is little or no convincing evidence that legislative action is needed or is, indeed, appropriate.
The Commission will continue to observe the markets and examine their effects on potential circumvention of national price-fixing systems, taking into account the cultural diversity of the book market and the existence of clear case-law of the Court of Justice.
Thirty seconds early: Happy Birthday!
Let me turn to this very serious subject, which I know has raised great passions and has produced a great deal of intellectual energy over the years: the question of the systems of fixed book prices in the Member States, which, as honourable Members have said, has been around for some time.
The Commission shares the Court of Justice’s opinion that truly national book price-fixing systems are not contestable as long as they respect the principles defined by the Court and do not have a restrictive effect on trade between Member States.
The Commission maintains its position, based on the case-law of the Court, that it is not necessary to harmonise these systems. This is consistent with internal market principles and the objectives of cultural policy.
Furthermore, as the House will probably know, the Commission has recently presented a proposal for a regulation on sales promotion which explicitly allows national fixed book prices. At the same time, it provides that Member States should not impose a limitation on the value of sales promotion, except in the case of discounts. This may address in particular some of the concerns expressed by the honourable Member in relation to matters related to culture.
I notice that the honourable Member's resolution aims to provide a Community definition of "circumvention" of the national price-fixing system and that this can be extended to booksellers in other Member States.
This definition reflects too broad an understanding of the notion of circumvention. It could undermine the free intra-Community trade of books, in particular via the Internet. I also note that the honourable Member’s proposal gives no guarantee against any adverse effect it could have on trade between Member States.
There may also be a question of the legal basis. The cultural provisions of Article 151 of the Treaty state that the Community can encourage cooperation in this area but not legislate. The subsidiarity aspects of any such proposal would therefore have to be studied extremely carefully.
A further consideration is the Commission’s commitment to better regulation. Any proposal to change a legal situation which has been dealt with by the Court must demonstrate clear benefits. There is currently no evidence to indicate that the Court’s case-law has to be further clarified."@en1
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