[infocollector]

What happens when one buys an electronic book from outside France ( http://bookscanner.us ) ? Who pays the tax and when?

[desas]

The same as buying anything else from a different country. If it is bought from another EU country thencvat is collected by the company. From memory if it is bought from outside the EU/EEA then the customer is supposed to pay the tax when it is imported

[Someone]

But if you travel with the wares, you can bring in €X (around €400) worth of stuff tax-free per trip (there are independent limits for alcohol, tobacco (as long as it is for your own use), and medicines)

See for example http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/arriving/arrivingnoneu.htm (that's for the UK, but AFAIK these rules are standardized across the EU. At least, http://www.belastingdienst.nl/wps/wcm/connect/bldcontenten/b... is very similar)

[ernesth]

This law is supposed to take effect after the 2015/1/1 on which day VAT in Europe will be collected according to the country of the buyer while at the moment it is collected according to the country of the seller.

[paulgb]

This is off-topic, but it pains me to see that they shred and recycle the books rather than donating them to schools/libraries.

[icebraining]

That would be a copyright violation. The only way to avoid the charge is to destroy the original, so that they can claim no real copy has been made, just a transfer of format.

[paulgb]

Ah, that makes sense.

[infocollector]

They do shred+recycle, but they can not donate. Its all about copyright laws! :(