After a long showdown with the Senate, the French government finally adopted an amendment to apply a reduced VAT rate of 5% on digital books, a rate already applied to printed books. ‘We will not return to this amendment adopted by way of the French cultural exception,’ added François Baroin, the Budget Minister. Moreover, ex-minister Jacques Toubon has been given the task of leading dialogues at the European level in order to achieve uniformity in VAT rates within the European Union.

Background information can be found on the website of the French Senate (http://www NULL.senat NULL.fr/rap/r09-338/r09-3387 NULL.html).