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It is the same in Spain.

Fun story, I had a professor in university that tried to force us to buy his own book for his course, refusing to provide notes or any other free alternatives, and for the final exam he allowed anyone to bring in his book.

We complained to the school board as this was unfair and there was a conflict of interests, the exam was redone by a committee and a new professor replaced him the next year.

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Damn. Early in my college years I took a course from a lecturer who made us buy not one but two useless books of his (each on its fifth edition or so). The bookstore was owned and operated by the college, so I didn't even bother to complain.

I ran into a situation where a graded component of a course required buying the textbook by the lecturer. It involved an online testing service through a company owned by the lecturer. I raised a complaint with the university pointing out it was against policy along with the conflict of interest, was forced to transfer to a section led by another lecturer (same course, different textbook, considerably worse lecturer), and the university never bothered doing anything about it.

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