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LIVING IN FRANCE

Reader question: Is the French government really forcing Amazon to raise its prices?

Did you receive a recent email from Amazon informing you book delivery prices are going up? Here's why.

Published: 4 October 2023 15:54 CEST
Reader question: Is the French government really forcing Amazon to raise its prices?
An employee prepares a package for shipment at an Amazon logistics centre (Photo by Ronny Hartmann / AFP)

Amazon customers in France may have received an email informing them that additional fees will be added to future orders.

The email states that starting October 7th, new rules for new book delivery pricing will go into effect.

A sample of the email sent out by Amazon.fr (Screenshot by Genevieve Mansfield)

This is not a scam. The change is thanks to a new French law – originally published in France’s Journal Officiel in April – which is now coming into effect.

The law requires online providers to charge a minimum of €3 in delivery costs for book purchases of less than €35 in order to maintain fair competition with small, independent bookshops.

Previously, online retailers were charging as low as €0.01 for book delivery fees, while independent booksellers were forced to charge at least €7 to €9, according to reporting by Le Monde. 

READ MORE: Why are there so many bookshops in France?

The law affects anyone selling books online – but is primarily targeted at the online giants like Amazon, who use low delivery fees to attract customers. 

Amazon France wrote in their email that any customer who purchased a new book before October 7th will not see the additional fee added, even if the delivery is meant to be after October 7th.

The change will affect all Amazon customers, including Prime subscribers.

For new book purchases above €35, Amazon will retain the right to charge just €0.01 in delivery fees.

France’s history with protecting booksellers

The French government first announced the intention to raise minimum prices for book deliveries in 2021, as part of the Darcos Act. In the years following, Amazon pushed back, eventually taking the matter to the Conseil d’État.

Frédéric Duval, the Managing Director of Amazon France, told French business journal Les Echos that the measure will “penalise readers, authors and reading in general”.

He argued that keeping fees low online allows for people in rural areas to get books: “almost half of the books sold by Amazon in France are sent to small towns where there are often no bookshops.”

Eventually, the French government was able to reach an agreement the the bookseller’s union (Syndicat de la librairie française, or SLF) and Amazon to set the additional fee for delivering new books to €3. This is lower than the €4.50 requested by the SLF and higher than Amazon’s suggestion of €1.49.

This is not the first time the French government has stepped in to regulate book prices and discounting. In 1981, the “Lang Law” first introduced a fixed price for new books in France, meaning you will pay the same amount regardless of where you shop, with stores able to offer no more than a 5 percent discount.

However, since the rise of internet giants, bookshops began to worry the law was being undermined. 

In response to these concerns, in 2014 French lawmakers voted to ban giants like Amazon from shipping books for free.

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LIVING IN FRANCE

Why nearly 2 million addresses in France are set to change

Hundreds of thousands of home addresses across France are set to change due to a new law that is coming into force that means no more nameless roads in French villages.

Published: 6 May 2024 15:21 CEST
Why nearly 2 million addresses in France are set to change

Officials of villages in France with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants have until June 1st to fill out a government website with updated information about street names and house numbers, which includes naming roads that were previously nameless.

The changes are a result of the 3Ds law – so-called because it relates to Différenciation, Décentralisation, Déconcentration – which was adopted in 2022, and requires communes to allocate formal addresses to houses on the estimated 200,000 or so streets with no name.

Until this law, smaller communes had not been obliged to name individual roads, or number individual houses, giving rise to some interesting addresses – that are more like descriptions – in some hamlets.

From June 1st, however, ‘house with green door after the bakery by the church’ will no longer be acceptable as an address. Good news for property owners who have had trouble getting packages delivered.

How common are unnamed streets in France?

There are plenty. According to La Poste, there were about 1.8 million French households had no exact formal address at the end of 2023 – a figure that’s down from 3.5 million in 2017.

In all, it said, 20,000 of France’s 34,000 or so municipalities had at least one unnamed road. As recently as February, more than half of local authorities with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants still had to update their database.

Communes with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants had, until now, no obligation to name streets, or even squares. From June 1st, all roads must have a name; and all properties must be numbered. 

Most of the time, a lack of street name in a hamlet is unproblematic. Everyone knows everyone in smalltown France, and postal workers know their areas well. But, in emergency situations, for example, it can be an issue.

Under the 3Ds law, communes have to deliver their ‘local address database’ – which in turn populates a national database – by June 1st, 2024. This has been known about for a while, giving communes time to agree any new street names.

What does it mean for people living in these areas?

There’s a bit of admin work coming your way, if you live in a currently unnumbered house on one of the currently unnamed streets.

Once your street has a name and your house a number, you will have to tell any employers, utility suppliers, telephone operators et cetera that your address has been updated. You may also have to update any ID cards or residency permits. How and when you do this is up to you.

But I like my ‘lieu-dit’ address!

It’s okay. There was some early confusion for some mayors, but lieu-dit – which simply means locality – addresses are fine. The rule of thumb is if emergency services can find it quickly and easily, an address is good. 

In future, rather than your address being “Lieu-dit Les Essarts”, the address will change to “[house number and street name], Lieu-dit Les Essarts”.

Do I have a say in my street’s name and house number, then?

No. That would be a local authority matter. But you could end up with an unexpected property number, depending on where you live. This is because the database is intended to help emergency services and delivery companies find a particular address easily.

If you live in splendid isolation in the only house on a one-lane road that’s a kilometre after the crossroads, you may find your house is number 1,000 – because your property is 1,000m up the road.

This is going to get expensive, isn’t it?

It won’t be as pricey as first feared. Under original plans, local authorities were obliged to pay for street signs and house numbers, but the house number requirement has been dropped, and it’s up to local mairies to decide how many street signs are necessary.

However, if you want to arrange a house number for yourself, be aware that the mairie can dictate what it looks like, so that all properties remain in keeping with the village’s rural aesthetic. 

READ MORE: How to get planning permission for your French property

Who can access the database?

Anyone. The database is in open data format. Public and private entities will use it to find your property to deliver goods and services – everything from parcels and letters, to connecting properties to the fibre network, and getting to you in an emergency.

The data available is limited to house number, street name and commune. No other information will be available, or required, as this law refers only to the location of a building.

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