The Competition Commission (Comco) has opened an investigation against the French publishing group Madrigall. It will examine whether it unlawfully limits the possibility for Swiss booksellers to obtain supplies in France on better terms. For Pascal Vandenberghe, director of Payot, this is a first victory.
The Payot group had filed a complaint in September against Madrigall, parent company of Gallimard, Flammarion or Casterman, for abuse of relative market power, recalls Comco in a press release published on Tuesday. He reproached him with preventing Swiss booksellers from procuring books in France at the French market price and under the usual French conditions.
>> Read again: The director of Payot files a complaint for an increase in the price of books
As part of the investigation, “Comco will examine whether Madrigall actually has relative market power towards the whistleblower and whether the company has behaved in an abusive manner within the meaning of the cartel law”, specifies the commission.
>> The 7:30 p.m. report:
“There will be an impact on the selling price”
Guest of 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, the boss of Payot therefore had a smile. “It’s a first stage victory (…) four months after the complaint, we have a position taken by Comco which comes into play on a procedure, so it’s a good sign”, he explains. -he.
“We have a purchase price that is 40% to 50% higher than if we bought directly in France”, recalls Pascal Vandenberghe. According to him, this injustice should be repaired and ultimately benefit customers in Switzerland. “It is obvious that if we can benefit from lower purchase prices, we will pass it on to the selling price”, he specifies.
For example, Michel Houellebecq’s latest book, “Anéantir”, currently sold for 26 euros in France and around 40 francs in Switzerland, could ultimately drop to 35 or 36 francs, explains Pascal Vandenberghe. A difference that is still relatively significant, which is however explained by the costs, which are not the same in Switzerland.
As for the risk of getting angry with major publishers, the director assumes, while judging to have the law on his side. “The law aims to weigh the strength of the powerful against the weakest. And in this game, it is clear that Payot is the weakest”, he concludes.
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