The regulator of postal activities, Arcep, opened a public consultation in April concerning the minimum tariff for the delivery of books purchased remotely, provided for by a law of December 2021.
Since 2014, this minimum price has been 0.01 euro and systematically applied as such by Amazon and its competitor Fnac.
However, the law adopted with the support of President Emmanuel Macron intends to raise it, in order to encourage consumers to go to bookstores to avoid any shipping costs.
In its response to the public consultation, Amazon argued for special treatment for mail containing books.
The company advocates "the establishment of a dedicated postal rate, which already exists for shipments of books abroad: sending a 500-gram book to London thus costs 1.49 euros, while sending it to a French address costs four times more, namely 6 euros".
“If a minimum shipping rate were nevertheless to be adopted, it should be set at the lowest possible level so as to limit its inflationary effects,” Amazon continued.
The e-commerce giant felt that it was not harming bookstores, judging that both were "complementary".
"General bookstores indeed offer a local service and mostly recent titles, while more than two-thirds of Amazon's catalog is made up of books that have been published for more than two years," he said.
By launching its public consultation, Arcep made an initial proposal for a threshold for shipping costs of 3 euros.
The professional organization of bookstores (SLF) considers it far too low and recommends a minimum of 4.50 euros.
© 2022 AFP