European Commission accepts Amazon’s e-book pledges

The European Commission agrees with Amazon’s commitments to improve its business practices with its e-book commerce. Amazon promises no more unfair deals with publishers.

Among other things, Amazon claims to refrain from practices whereby publishers who did business with the company were obliged to offer Amazon e-books under the same conditions as competing platforms. The publishers were also required to disclose details of agreements with competitors to Amazon.

In addition, Amazon had included a Discount Pool Provision in contracts with some publishers, whereby Amazon appropriated the right to offer discounted e-books so that the price matched that of the books of competing providers. According to the European Commission, the practices resulted in less choice, less innovation and higher prices for European consumers.

The agreement is valid for a period of five years and applies to every e-book in every language that Amazon offers in the EU. If the company does not comply with the agreements, it risks a fine of up to 10 percent of the annual turnover.