On Friday 9 June, the Telecoms Council reached a general approach to regulatory surveillance and price transparency for the cross-border delivery of parcels (see EUROPE 11558).
As we previously explained (see EUROPE 11803), the compromise recommends applying the requirements foreseen in the EU Regulation on delivery services employing an average of 50 people during the previous tax year, including sub-contractors if the national regulatory body so desires. On another controversial issue, viz. assessing cross-border delivery charges, it recommends that all parcel deliveries (not only suppliers of universal service, as desired by the European Commission) should provide the national regulatory bodies with details of their pricing.
Several member states expressed some regrets about the general approach. Lithuania criticised the measures for identifying delivery services covered by the new communication and transparency requirements, feeling that the 50-employees rule was ‘too high.’ The Netherlands criticised measures on assessing prices for running the risk of placing too high an administrative burden on companies.
Vice-president of the European Commission Andrus Ansip welcomed the agreement reached by telecoms ministers but regretted that they had rejected the measures for transparent and non-discriminatory cross-border access (Article 6). He hoped agreement would now be reached with the European Parliament by the end of the year. The general approach can be found at: http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-9674-2017-INIT/fr/pdf . (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)