The EU #VAT #Ecommerce package, which is in force since 1 July 2021, is redefining global #onlineretail. European postal operators are suddenly forced to deal with the handling of importing duties provided/caused by the introduction of the new postal #delivery #businessmodel which now is completely separated from transport and final delivery.  

According to Import-One-Stop-Shop (IOSS) scheme imported #parcels are exempt from #import #duties and no #customsfees are applied. It was assumed that #postaloperators would only charge for customs presentation of imported into the #EU #parcels in case the IOSS is not used.  

However, on July 6th at EU Postal Regulators Workshop, it was confirmed that several postal operators will charge presentation fees for shipments registered with the #IOSS Suppliers/Marketplaces. That will not apply to the La Poste / DPD and Deutsche Post / DHL – leading European postal operators, who do not plan to charge for custom presentation or IOSS consignments. Others, such as PostNord (Denmark/Sweden) and bpost (Belgium) are interested in entering into bi- and multilateral agreements with importers, presumably offering rebates to the fees per item they have publicly announced. 

From a legal and regulatory perspective, this conduct is questionable at best: “𝘈 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘊𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦” (𝘜𝘗𝘜 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦 20 2).

But what of the impact? If an additional #fee of €2.50 (Slovenia), €3 (Greece), or €4 (Czech Republic) is charged for every parcel delivered under the IOSS, at the destination, then the existing EU postal delivery network will instantly become too costly for non-EU postal operators.  

As a result, non-EU designated #postaloperators may consolidate customs presentation, with the release for final delivery by non-postal delivery operators throughout the EU. This would make direct entry solutions and alternative last-mile delivery solutions increasingly appealing, leading to huge a loss of volume for the UPU’s global postal network.   
 
𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁? 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸?