Lang Law is the informal name given to French law number 81-766, from 10 August 1981, which establishes a fixed price for books sold in France and limits price discounts on them. The law is named after Jack Lang, the French Minister of Culture responsible for creating the law.
Until 1979 fixed prices of the books on the French market were maintained as a result of voluntary agreement between publishers and booksellers. [1] In 1979 decrees forbidding such practices were issued by René Monory, French Minister of the Economy at the time.
Repealing of Monory's reforms of the book market, in order to protect small, traditional booksellers from competition of big stores and chain retailers (such as Fnac), was part of François Mitterrand's electoral program during presidential campaign in 1981. After Mitterrand won the election he appointed Jack Lang as the new Minister of Culture and tasked him with creating a law proposal for a law establishing mandatory fixed book price. [2] [3] In August 1981, the French parliament voted unanimously in favor of the law proposed by Lang. [1]
The Lang Law works as follows:
The law was extended to cover e-books in May 2011. [5] Due to this law it is illegal to provide e-books of French publishers as a part of subscription service for a flat, periodical rate. [6]
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former Socialist Party First Secretary, he was the first left-wing politician to assume the presidency under the Fifth Republic.
Lagardère S.A. is an international group with operations in over 40 countries. Based in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, the group was founded and created in 1992 by Jean-Luc Lagardère under the name Matra, Hachette & Lagardère.
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Jack Mathieu Émile Lang is a French politician. A member of the Socialist Party, he served as Minister of Culture from 1981 to 1986 and again from 1988 to 1993, as well as Minister of National Education from 1992 to 1993 and 2000 to 2002.
The Net Book Agreement (NBA) was a fixed book price agreement in the United Kingdom and Ireland between The Publishers Association and booksellers which set the prices at which books were to be sold to the public. The agreement was concerned solely with price maintenance. It operated in the UK from 1900 until the 1990s when it was abandoned by some large bookshop chains and was then ruled illegal. It also operated in Ireland until shortly before its final demise.
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Hachette Livre S.A. is a French publishing group that was based in Paris. It was founded in 1826 by Louis Hachette as Brédif which later became successively L. Hachette et Compagnie, Librairie Hachette, Hachette SA and is then currently known in France as Hachette Livre. After acquiring an Australian publisher, Hachette Australia was created; in the UK it became Hachette UK, and its expansion into the United States became Hachette Book Group.
Fnac is a French multinational retail chain specializing in the sale of entertainment media and consumer electronics.
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Frédéric Mitterrand was a French actor, screenwriter, producer, and politician who served as Minister of Culture and Communication of France from 2009 to 2012 under President Nicolas Sarkozy.
110 Propositions for France was the Socialist Party's program for the 1981 presidential election during which the Socialist Party's candidate, François Mitterrand, was elected by 51.76% of the people. This program influenced significantly the policies enacted during Mitterrand's two terms.
Fixed book price (FBP) is a form of resale price maintenance applied to books. It allows publishers to determine the price of a book at which it is to be sold to the public. FBP can take the form of a law, mandatory obligation on all retailers, or an agreement between publishers and booksellers. An example of a fixed book price law is French Lang Law and the German Buchpreisbindung. An example of a trade agreement is the former Net Book Agreement in the United Kingdom.
The Bouquinistes of Paris, France, are booksellers of used and antiquarian books and rare vintage postcards who ply their trade along large sections of the banks of the Seine: on the right bank from the Pont Marie to the Quai du Louvre, and on the left bank from the Quai de la Tournelle to Quai Voltaire. The Seine is thus described as 'the only river in the world that runs between two bookshelves'.
Laurence Ruel, known by her pen name Camille Laurens, is a French writer and winner of the 2000 Prix Femina for Dans ces bras-là. Laurens is a member of the Académie Goncourt.
Stéphane Trano is a French journalist and author based in New York City, United States. He graduated in History from Columbia University, New York. His collaborations include L'Express, Le Point and Marianne.
The Centre national du livre (CNL) is a French établissement public à caractère administratif.
The Grand Louvre refers to the decade-long project initiated by French President François Mitterrand in 1981 of expanding and remodeling the Louvre – both the building and the museum – by moving the French Finance Ministry, which had been located in the Louvre's northern wing since 1871, to a different location. The centerpiece of the Grand Louvre is the Louvre Pyramid designed by Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei, which was also the project's most controversial component. The Grand Louvre was substantially completed in the late 1990s, even though its last elements were only finalized in the 2010s.
Audrée Wilhelmy is a Canadian writer from Quebec.
Françoise Benhamou is a Moroccan-born French economist, columnist, and professor. A specialist in the economics of the arts and literature, she serves on the faculties of Sciences Po Lille, Sciences Po Paris, the École Normale Supérieure, and the Sorbonne Paris North University. She is also a member of the Autorité de Régulation des Communications Électroniques, des Postes et de la Distribution de la Presse (ARCEP) from 2012 to 2018.