France Delays eBook VAT Cut to 2012

The Bookseller: "The cut in VAT on unenriched ebooks from 19.6% to 5.5% in France will almost certainly be postponed for a year from 1st January 2011 to 2012. An all party committee of members of parliament from both houses agreed during a meeting on Monday to iron out differences over the 2011 budget that the rate would be lowered, but not immedately. The National Assembly and Senate will both vote on the agreement today (15th). The pact came just hours after the French Publishers Association, Syndicat National de l’Edition (SNE), had released a statement welcoming the VAT reduction next year to avoid distortions of competition and to widen the choice of titles for legal download."