Press Release: Antitrust: Commission market tests commitments proposed by Simon & Schuster, Harper Collins, Hachette, Holtzbrinck and Apple for the sale of e-books

The European Commission has invited comments from interested parties on commitments offered by four international publishers - Simon & Schuster (CBS Corp., USA), Harper Collins (News Corp., USA), Hachette Livre (Lagardère Publishing, France), Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck (owner of inter alia Macmillan, Germany) – and Apple.

The proposed commitments aim to alleviate concerns that these companies may have engaged in an anti-competitive concerted practice affecting the sale of e-books in the European Economic Area (EEA). If the market test confirms that the commitments are suitable to address the Commission's competition concerns, the Commission may make them legally binding on the companies.