Taxes on ebooks should be cut to align their price with paper books, the European Commission has proposed as part of a broader review of sales tax's rules in Europe.
Existing European Union rules allow reduced value-added tax (VAT) rates only for printed books but not for ebooks. Several EU states, including Germany, France and Italy, have repeatedly urged that this discrimination be scrapped.
A commission document said it would issue a legislative proposal later this year "to ensure that e-publications can benefit from the same reduced rates as physical publications".
The concession on ebooks is part of a wider plan to give back to EU states some powers to set VAT rates.
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