EC likely to renew push on harmonizing cross-border parcel delivery pricing
As part of its ongoing Digital Single Market Strategy, the European Commission reportedly plans to push on with its efforts to harmonize cross-border parcel delivery prices next year. When the European Commission unveiled its Digital Single Market Strategy in May 2015, it said that “more efficient and affordable parcel delivery” would be a crucial factor in developing cross-border e-commerce.
According to a report in the Financial Times today (21 December), the EC is set to publish the findings of a new study this week that will show that there are major discrepancies between countries over cross-border parcel delivery charges – and that these “irrational” pricing strategies (as the FT paraphrases it) may be deterring consumers from online shopping.
The FT quoted an EC spokeswoman as saying that the EC will “launch measures to enhance price transparency and regulatory oversight” of the cross-border parcel delivery market in early 2016.
The FT report added that “options being considered” by the EC included introducing measures that would make it easier for rival operators to access existing delivery networks and setting up a “price comparison website”.
UPDATE ON 6 JANUARY 2016
The EC published a notice on its Digital Agenda webpage on 22 December 2015 (the day after we wrote this Post&Parcel news story), with a link to a PDF download of the Econometric study on letter and parcel prices by the Saint-Louis University . Click here to access.
