Activities of Anneleen VAN BOSSUYT related to 2016/0149(COD)

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 5

(5) In most Member States there are several providers who provide domestic parcel delivery services, while only a few of those providers also provide cross- border parcel delivery services. In this context, it is essential to ~~ensure, in order to safeguard and promote effective competition and to protect users, transpar~~underline the applicability of the EU competition law in respect of opent and non-discriminatory access to the services and infrastructure necessary for the provision of cross-border parcel delivery services.

2017/03/30
Committee: IMCO

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 6

(6) Currently, postal services are regulated by Directive 97/67/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council49 . This Directive establishes common rules governing the provision of postal services and the universal postal service in the Union. It focuses primarily, but not exclusively, on national universal services and does not address regulatory oversight of parcel delivery service providers, transparency of tariffs and terminal rates for certain cross-border parcel delivery services, the assessment of the affordability of tariffs for certain cross- border parcel delivery services and transparent and non-discriminatory access to certainalso calls for regulatory oversight of affordability and transparency of cross- border ~~parcel delivery services and/or infrastructure. This Regulation therefore complements, insofar as cross-border parcel delivery services are concerned, the rules set out in Directive 97/67/EC~~universal postal services. _________________ 49 Directive 97/67/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 1997 on common rules for the development of the internal market of Community postal services and the improvement of quality of service (OJ L 1, 21.1.1998, p 14 - 25).

2017/03/30
Committee: IMCO

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 6

(6) Currently, postal services are regulated by Directive 97/67/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council49 . This Directive establishes common rules governing the provision of postal services and the universal postal service in the Union. It focuses primarily, but not exclusively, on national universal services and does not address regulatory oversight of parcel delivery service providers, transparency of tariffs ~~and terminal rates~~ for certain cross- border parcel delivery services, the assessment of the affordability of tariffs for certain cross-border parcel delivery services ~~and transparent and non-discriminatory access to certain cross-border parcel delivery services and/or infrastructure~~. This Regulation therefore complements, insofar as cross- border parcel delivery services are concerned, the rules set out in Directive 97/67/EC. _________________ 49 Directive 97/67/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 1997 on common rules for the development of the internal market of Community postal services and the improvement of quality of service (OJ L 1, 21.1.1998, p 14 - 25).

2017/03/30
Committee: IMCO

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 8

(8) Therefore, it is important to provide a clear definition of parcels and parcel delivery services and to specify which postal items are covered by thatose definitions. This concerns in particular postal items, other than items of correspondence, which because of their weight are commonly used for sending goods and merchandise. This Regulation should therefore cover, in line with consistent practice, postal items weighing up to 31.5 kg, as heavier items cannot be handled by a single average individual without mechanical aids. In line with current practice and Directive 97/67/EC, each step in the postal chain, i.e. clearance, sorting and delivery should be considered parcel delivery services. Transport alone that is not undertaken in conjunction with one of those steps should fall outside the scope of parcel delivery services as it can in this case be assumed that this activity is part of the transport sector.

2017/03/30
Committee: IMCO

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 9

(9) Terminal rates are based on multilateral and bilateral agreements between universal service providers and ensure that the destination universal service provider is remunerated for the costs of the service provided to the originating universal service provider. Terminal rates should be defined in such a way that it includes both terminal dues, as defined in point 15 of Article 2 of Directive 97/67/EC that are applied for letter mail items and inward land rates that are applied to parcels.deleted

2017/03/30
Committee: IMCO

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 12

(12) When providing information to the national regulatory authority, it should be taken into account that parcel delivery service providers may have already provided certain information to the same national regulatory authority. Parcel delivery services are important for small and medium-sized enterprises and individuals and they should be able to compare easily between different providers. Therefore, the services for which tariffs should be provided by universal service providers should be clearly defined. Those tariffs should be published by the Commission on a dedicated webpage and should, together with the confidential regular provision of the underlying terminal rates, constitute the basis for the national regulatory authorities to assess the affordability of tariffs for cross-border parcel delivery services. Parcel delivery service providers other than universal service providers may voluntarily provide, in a comparable form, their national regulatory authority with the tariffs for the same items provided that such items are delivered at the home or the premises of the addressee.

2017/03/30
Committee: IMCO

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 14

(14) When national regulatory authorities annually assess the affordability of tariffs, they should base themselves on objective criteria, such as the domestic tariffs of the originating universal service providers and the destination universal service providers and the level of terminal rates. Those common criteria may be complemented by other criteria of particular relevance for explaining the tariffs in question, such as specific transportation or handling costs and bilateral volumes between different cross-border parcel delivery service providers.deleted

2017/03/30
Committee: IMCO

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 15

(15) Uniform tariffs for cross-border deliveries to two or more Member States may be important in the interest of protecting regional and social cohesion. In this context it should be considered that e- commerce offers new opportunities for sparsely populated areas to participate in the economic life. ~~It is therefore necessary to take any uniform tariffs fully into account when assessing the affordability of parcel delivery services.~~

2017/03/30
Committee: IMCO

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 18

(18) Universal service providers providing parcel delivery services may conclude multilateral and bilateral agreements on terminal rates and may set up other programmes to facilitate the interconnectivity of their delivery networks. For reasons of non- discrimination, competing parcel delivery service providers shall be granted equal access to the terminal rates applicable between parties under multilateral agreements. It may be justified that terminal rates payable by third-party parcel delivery service providers, in some cases, exceed those payable by universal service providers that are parties to such agreements. This may be the case where the parties to a multilateral agreement on terminal rates are able to demonstrate that the cost of setting up, operating and administering the agreement, the extra cost incurred by accepting and handling items from non-designated parcel delivery service providers and other such costs are not covered by the terminal rates payable by the third-party service provider in the originating Member State.

2017/03/30
Committee: IMCO

Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point b

(b) the transparency of tariffs ~~and terminal rates~~ for certain cross-border parcel delivery services ~~and the assessment of the affordability of certain cross-border tariffs;~~.

2017/03/30
Committee: IMCO

Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – point -a (new)

(-a) "parcel" means a packet containing goods with or without a commercial value and undergoing a delivery process involving clearance, sorting, transport or distribution.

2017/03/30
Committee: IMCO

Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – point a

(a) "parcel delivery services" means services involving the clearance, sorting, transport or distribution of p~~ostal items other than items of correspondence; transport alone shall not be considered a parcel delivery service; d~~arcels. Delivery of ~~such~~ items exceeding 31,5 kg shall not be considered a parcel delivery service;

2017/03/30
Committee: IMCO

Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – point c

(c) "terminal rates" means payments from the originating universal service provider to the destination universal service provider for the costs of cross- border parcel delivery services in the destination Member State.deleted

2017/03/30
Committee: IMCO

Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point b

(b) the ~~nature~~description of the services offered by the provider;

2017/03/30
Committee: IMCO

Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 3 – introductory part

3. By 31 Ma~~rch~~y of each calendar year, all parcel delivery service providers shall submit the following information to the national regulatory authority of the Member State in which they are established:

2017/03/30
Committee: IMCO

Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 3 – point a

(a) the annual turnover in parcel delivery services for the previous calendar year in the Member State in which the provider is established, broken down in parcel delivery services relating to national, incoming and outgoing cross- border postal items;deleted

2017/03/30
Committee: IMCO

Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 3 – point b

(b) the number of persons ~~working for~~employed by the provider and involved in the provision of parcel delivery services in the Member State in which the provider is established in the previous calendar year

2017/03/30
Committee: IMCO

Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 3 – point c

(c) the number of ~~postal items other than items of correspondence and not exceeding 31,5 kg~~shipments handled in the Member State in which the provider is established in the previous calendar year, broken down into national, incoming and outgoing cross- border p~~ostal item~~arcels.

2017/03/30
Committee: IMCO

Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 5

~~5. The national regulatory authorities may impose information requirements additional to those referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 where they are necessary to ensure conformity with this Regulation.~~deleted

2017/03/30
Committee: IMCO

Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 6

6. A parcel delivery service provider which e~~mploy~~ngages fewer than 50 persons (whatever their employment or self- employment status) shall not be subject to the obligations under paragraph 1 and 2, unless that provider is established in more than one Member State.

2017/03/30
Committee: IMCO

Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – title

Transparency of tariffs ~~and terminal rates~~

2017/03/30
Committee: IMCO

Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 3

3. Universal service providers providing parcel delivery services shall provide the national regulatory authority with the terminal rates applicable on 1 January of each calendar year to postal items originating from other Member States. That information shall be provided by 31 January of each calendar year at the latest.deleted

2017/03/30
Committee: IMCO

Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 4

4. The national regulatory authorities shall submit the terminal rates obtained in accordance with paragraph 3 to the Commission and the national regulatory authorities of the originating Member States by 28 of February of each calendar year at the latest.deleted

2017/03/30
Committee: IMCO

Proposal for a regulation
Article 5

Assessing affordability of tariffs 1. The national regulatory authority shall assess the affordability of cross-border tariffs included in the public lists of tariffs obtained in accordance with Article 4(1) within 3 months of receipt of that information. In that assessment, in particular the following elements shall be taken into account: (a) the domestic tariffs of the comparable parcel delivery services in the originating Member State and in the destination Member State; (b) the terminal rates obtained in accordance with Article 4(3); (c) any application of a uniform tariff to two or more Member States. 2. Where the national regulatory authority concludes that cross-border tariffs referred to in paragraph 1 are not affordable, it shall request further necessary information and/or justification in relation to the level of those tariffs from the universal service provider. 3. The universal service provider shall provide the national regulatory authority with the information and/or justification referred to in paragraph 2 within 15 working days of receipt of the request. 4. The national regulatory authority shall submit its assessment, including any information and/or justification provided in accordance with paragraph 3, to the Commission, the national regulatory authorities of the other Member States and the national authorities within the Member State of the submitting national regulatory authority entrusted with the implementation of competition law. A non-confidential version of that assessment shall also be provided to the Commission. That information shall be provided by 31 March of each calendar year at the latest. 5. The Commission shall publish the non- confidential version of the assessment provided by the national regulatory authorities in accordance with paragraph 4 on the dedicated website by 30 April of each calendar year at the latest.rticle 5 deleted

2017/03/30
Committee: IMCO