EU wants to increase the transparency of cross-border courier services. They want to stimulate the growth of European e-commerce

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21.06.2017

The European Commission wants to launch an electronic platform to publish cross-border delivery rates for specific operators.

The European Council has recently approved a draft regulation whose main objective is to improve the transparency and control over cross-border courier services to support European e-commerce market.

To achieve this goal, the European Commission wants to launch a web-based platform that will provide information on the rates charged by specific operators for international deliveries. Courier companies will have to provide this information to appropriate authorities. Thanks to the platform, consumers will be able to compare prices and choose the most advantageous offer.

A stimuli for e-commerce

Right now approximately 44% of Europeans shop online in their own countries but only 15% place orders in foreign online stores. This is mainly because of the high payments for shipping from another country.

This regulation is to change, however. The platform will provide greater transparency on the European courier service market as well as lower prices which will stimulate the development of the cross-border e-commerce. Consumers will be more eager to buy at foreign online retailers and more e-stores will be created across the EU.

However, the new regulations will not apply to small businesses due to the excessive administrative burden – both form them and the national authorities who will be collecting these data.

Controlling the market situation

In addition to the price reduction the regulations put forward by the European Commission will allow to better control the situation on the courier services market in the Union.

Operators will need to provide different types of data to national regulatory authorities to assess current rates and detect potential market failures.

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