CERP PLENARY PostEurop position on the European Commission Proposal for a Regulation on cross-border parcel delivery Elena Fernández- Rodríguez, PostEurop – EAC Chair 1 June 2017

PostEurop‘s position on the Commission‘s proposal Parcel delivery markets are growing rapidly and are highly competitive… From PO, through express operators to new business models (Amazon, Uber…) On average, 8 different operators for domestic parcel delivery and 7 different operators for cross-border delivery (incl. USPs and competitors) E-commerce turnover increased by 13,3% in 2015 and 12% in 2016 E-commerce barometer (2017): “Companies not selling cross‐border indicated as main reasons for not doing so because of overly restricting regulations in other Member States”

Commission’s proposal for a Regulation on Cross-Border Parcel Delivery Services Commission proposal PostEurop position Objectives Make markets work more effectively by increasing regulatory oversight encouraging competition Increase transparency of tariffs in order to reduce unjustifiable differences and lower tariffs for individuals and SMEs Highly competitive market Avoid of red tape Proportionality Information requirements (Art. 3) All parcels delivery service providers to submit to NRA: (i) Annual turnover & numbers of postal items from parcels delivery (domestic/import/export) Only small scale operators should be exempt New business models should be also affected Confidentiality

Commission’s proposal for a Regulation on Cross-Border Parcel Delivery Services Commission proposal PostEurop position Transparency of tariffs and terminal rates (Art. 4) USPs to report public lists prices (annex 1) to NRA and Commission as well as publication on a dedicated web-site USPs to report terminal rates for imports to NRA, Commission and other NRAs Support transparency (public list prices). Should apply to ALL operators active in the market. NO justification for transparency of terminal rates: highly sensitive business data Affordability assessment of all prices disproportionate Assessing affordability of tariffs (Art. 5) NRA to assess affordability, taking into account domestic tariff of originating and destination MS, terminal rates and application of uniform tariff If tariffs are not affordable, request for further information. Affordability assessments to be submitted to COM and other NRAs Non-confidential version to be published on the dedicated web-site BEREC-ERGP „ before introducing any additional measure: need to evidence the problem & clear impact assessment. Disproportionate. Since the EC expects only 5 to 10 % of the tariffs to fail the affordability assessment. Should avoid redundancy and be limited only to cases were there is insufficient competition

Commission’s proposal for a Regulation on Cross-Border Parcel Delivery Services Commission proposal PostEurop position Transparent and non-discriminatory cross-border access (Art. 6) USPs to meet all reasonable requests for access whenever concluding multilateral agreements on terminal rates. USP to publish reference offer, subject to approval by NRA. NRA may impose changes   Disproportionate Cross-border delivery is extremely competitive. Multi operator & partnerships. In a free market, access should be part of normal commercial negotiations.

PostEurop‘s position on the Commission‘s proposal Conclusion Transparency of prices acceptable, but no justification for transparency of terminal rates: Affordability assessments as drafted by the Commission: involve significant resources and costs restrict the post’s pricing strategies and thereby their ability to compete entirely disproportionate, if (as expected by the Commission) only 5 to max. 10% might not be affordable No justification for a sector-specific regulation of third party access: Cross-border delivery provided through a variety of networks and agreements No market failure demonstrated Agreements and access to agreements are part of normal commercial negotiations Applicability of general competition law sufficient Request for a proportionate approach that reflects market conditions

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