EU regulation is unlikely to be needed in the e-commerce delivery market, except possibly aroundterms and conditions, because of the level of innovation and growth in the market, according to
industry and political representatives at the recent European Post & Parcel Services conferencein London.Werner Stengg, Head of the European Commission’s Post and Online Services Unit within DGInternal Market, said it was too early to say whether the aims of the Commission’s “roadmap forcompleting the single market for parcel delivery” would be achieved by the end of 2015, but he was “ optimistic” that they would.
Responding to a question about what the Commission would do in the event that there wasinadequate progress, he said: “It is difficult to say. I think the most likely scenario that therewill be more progress in some workstreams than others, so it will be a case of accelerating somestreams. But I am optimistic, particularly from attending events like this where initiatives arediscussed.”
Responding to a question on whether e-commerce regulation was needed, Deutsche Post Senior VPfor Global Mail in Germany, Thomas Baldry, commented: “One of the root causes of people notordering abroad is terms and conditions (T&Cs). If I knew they were the same everywhere, Iwould be more likely to buy. So some regulation around customer confidence and payments isneeded.”
Botond Szebeny, secretary general of PostEurop, agreed that this was the one area wherealignment or regulation could be useful: “Apart from that, no!” he stressed. “But we are in arelatively easy situation in that regard as we are not far from each other. We have an industryprogramme running and we are confident that this young, dynamic industry will deliver.”
Thierry Dieu, head of communications for IPC, said his organisation was working with 24 leadingpostal operators on developing cross-border solutions, and the organization was confident ofcontinuing to achieve progress in streamlining cross-border and improving its transparency andefficiency.
Øyvind Høgset, director of e-commerce services for Norway Post, responded: “I think we areseeing a lot of solutions and we will see a lot of progress. A booming area such as e-commerce willattract a lot of players, so that will generate innovation and progress through competition.”
