E-Commerce Working Group

Mission

• Maintain a constructive dialogue with all relevant stakeholders, including the European Commission and the European Parliament, on the issues related to e-commerce driven cross-border parcel delivery. 
• Develop and lobby common positions on a European parcel delivery policy in the context of the digital single market strategy
• Communication on the industry’s capability on the parcel delivery sector, innovations to meet user needs and other future-oriented activities

Background

On 22 May 2018, the EU Regulation on cross-border parcel delivery services has come into force. The new Regulation is the major outcome of intensive debates induced by the publication of the Commission’s Green Paper „An integrated parcel delivery market for the growth of e-commerce in the EU“ in November 2012. 

In May 2015, the Commission submitted its Digital Market Strategy. While the Commission recognised the progress made by the industry in terms of more convenience and quality of services, they announced additional measures for parcel delivery in order to improve price transparency and enhance regulatory oversight. One year later, in May 2016, the Commission submitted to the Council and the European Parliament a proposal for a Regulation on cross-border parcel delivery.

The Regulation finally adopted in 2018 requires parcel delivery service providers to provide their public list prices for a certain set of products to the relevant National Regulatory Authority. The European Commission shall publish these prices on a dedicated website in order to improve transparency of tariffs and to enable consumers and businesses to compare domestic and cross border tariffs between member states and between providers. The Regulation also empowers National Regulatory Authorities to assess tariffs for cross-border parcel delivery services which are subject to universal service obligation and that they consider unreasonably high.

The Working Group closely monitored the political process in a constructive way. PostEurop agrees with better price transparency for end consumers but is critical with regard to the increased administrative burden for the postal industry. Furthermore, the tariff assessment is disproportionate to the Commission’s objective and does not reflect market conditions.

Objectives

The Working Group continues to observe the further developments on this field, including the application and implementation of the Regulation. It will participate in the stakeholder dialogue on the Commission’s evaluation report which is foressen to be published in 2020.

The Working Group operates a website on all issues around parcel delivery in the EU (www.Deliver4Europe.eu) and a connected Twitter channel (@deliver4Europe).

Updated on 17 April 2019