Bern, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) – The lower house of the Swiss parliament has voted to bring back fixed prices for books, but given that the Federal Council has said clearly it opposes the idea, the proposed legislation has an uneasy future. In practice, the Conseil national is insisting that the Federal Council review to see if it is working efficiently, every three years, a price-setting system.

German-speaking Switzerland had set prices for books for more than 100 years but the practice was abolished in May 2007 at the insistence of the Competition Commission. French-speaking Switzerland did not fix prices, but the group of French-speaking bookstores had a price-fixing agreement until the 1990s.

The new system is defended by its proponents as protecting cultural goods, which they say should not be subject to normal competition rules. It allows a small range of prices, thereby getting around potential criticism from the Competition Commission.

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