French Bookseller's Union v. Amazon

Alex Tabarrok at Marginal Revolution has this to say about Amazon and the French Bookseller's Union. Tabarrok writes,

A French court has ruled in favor of the French Bookseller's Union that Amazon's free shipping policy violates a law forbidding booksellers from offering discounts of more than 5 percent off the list price. Amazon was told to start charging for shipping within ten days or pay a daily fine. It must also pay €100,000 to the French Booksellers' Union.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, however, is refusing to charge for shipping and is taking the case to the French public. Way to go Jeff! My advice? Tell the state, laissez nous faire!

A law forbidding booksellers from offering discounts of more than 5 percent off the list price????? How does such a law help consumers? It hardly helps competition if the state is willing to enforce a cartel's rules on pricing of books.