The Competition Council has fined six companies active in the book supply market, as well as the Romanian Publishers Association (AER), with total fines amounting to 5.967 million lei (approximately 1.2 million euros) for participating in an anti-competitive agreement.
The fines were applied as follows:
- Curtea Veche Publishing S.R.L. 422,220.85 lei
- Nemira Publishing House S.R.L. 324,636.37 lei
- Humanitas S.A. 365,718.84 lei
- Publica Com S.R.L. 174,677.34 lei
- Direct Client Services S.R.L. (Cărturești Bookstores) 3,982,290.66 lei
- Librăriile Humanitas S.A. 582,362.94 lei
- Romanian Publishers Association 115,696.04 lei
The competition authority found, following an investigation, that the six companies, together with the industry association, coordinated their commercial strategies and restricted the sale of books to entities managing the Bookster library, between 2017 and 2020.
Bookster purchased books from publishers and bookstores, which were then made available to subscribers through a subscription paid by the readers’ employers.
The publishers and bookstores, supported by AER, believed that Bookster’s activities did not qualify as those of a public library and that it did not adhere to the rules of the book supply market and did not pay sufficient royalties.
“We cannot rule on the applicability of other laws, but all laws must be respected, including competition law. The publishers and bookstores should have acted only through legal means to achieve their goals,” said Bogdan Chirițoiu, President of the Competition Council.
The investigation was triggered by a complaint filed by the Association Education for All Children, as the owner of the Bookster library.
It should be noted that competition law prohibits any agreements between companies and concerted practices that hinder, restrict, or distort competition in the Romanian market.