Brussels is adamant about ebooks. A sentence of the European Court of Justice establishes that France and Luxembourg cannot apply a reduced VAT rate to the supply of electronic books, contrary to what is valid for paper books. The judges accepted the appeals with which the European Commission had asked to declare the two countries in default because, by cutting VAT on eBooks, they failed to fulfill the obligations of the EU directive.
Since January 2015, XNUMX also in Italy the VAT on eBooks has dropped from 22% to 4%, on the basis of the stability law within which a specific amendment supported by the government was accepted and approved. A "battle of civilization and common sense", as defined by the Minister of Cultural Heritage and Tourism Dario Franceschini. But at this point the EU infringement procedure is around the corner.
The EU Court "states" that the European legislation on VAT excludes any possibility of applying a reduced VAT rate to "services supplied electronically". According to the Court, the supply of electronic books constitutes such a service. The EU Court "rejects the argument according to which the supply of electronic books would constitute a supply of goods, and not a service".
The response of Italian publishers and other European and international associations to the sentence of the EU Court of Justice is an open letter to President of the Juncker Commission, the President of the European Parliament Schultz and the President of the European Council Donald Tusk. The request is that "intervention be made on the community directive to eliminate the distortion that penalizes the development of books and reading throughout the continent". A text proposed by the Federation of European Publishers (FEP), the Federation of European Writers' Associations (EWC) and the European and International Federation of Booksellers (EIBF), signed by the President of the Italian Publishers Association (IAE) Marco Polillo.
