Book market: Payot wins at Comco: appeal from the Madrigall editorial group

The Madrigall editorial group is appealing against the decision of the Competition Commission requiring it to allow direct supply under French conditions to Payot. According to him, Comco is based on an erroneous interpretation of the facts and the law.

In a brief press release requested by Keystone-ATS, Madrigall wrote that he had decided to appeal the Comco decision before the Federal Administrative Court, after having read it. Comco’s decision, made public last Thursday, concerned the French group’s commercial relations with Payot bookstores in Switzerland.

He considers that Comco “relies on an erroneous interpretation of the facts and the law, so that it wrongly considers an ‘abuse of relative market power’ by Madrigall”. The latter had refused to provide Payot with his books under the usual conditions valid in France.

The Swiss group is dependent on Madrigall, Comco emphasized. It does not have “sufficient and reasonable” alternative sources of supply. Giving up on Madrigall book sales is also not a realistic option.

In this context, Comco considers the purchase prices offered by Madrigall to Payot “abusive”. The French group is now required to allow the French-speaking bookseller to obtain supplies directly from France.

Island of high cost

Comco based its decision on the new provisions concerning relative market power, following the fair prices initiative aimed at combating the “Swiss island of high prices”. Before the appeal, Payot expected that the implementation of the Comco decision would take “a few months”.

The French-speaking company filed a complaint in autumn 2022 against the French group, denouncing an increase in the price of books and a distortion of competition. Its general director at the time Pascal Vandenberghe then spoke of “racketeering”, causing in-store price differences of 35% to 50% compared to the possible price if Payot could buy in France.

Unavoidable

Madrigall is one of the largest French publishing groups. It includes around fifteen publishing houses, including Gallimard and Flammarion, and publishes numerous award-winning authors. When filing the complaint, Pascal Vandenberghe explained that 90% of French books sold in French-speaking Switzerland came from the French giant.

Before seizing Comco, Payot had tried for months, in vain, to negotiate with the editorial group. Incidentally, Mr. Vandenberghe also denounced a distortion of competition with the Fnac Suisse group, which can import its books directly from France while benefiting from French purchase prices.

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