Cross-border postal delivery

31.3.2015

Question for written answer E-005205/2015
to the Commission
Rule 130
Claudia Schmidt (PPE)

In the answer to my question to the Commission from January 2015 (E‑001574‑15), I was informed by Commissioner Bieńkowska that the Commissioner is continuing to monitor cross-border postal delivery and will assess whether additional initiatives may be needed in order to improve cross-border parcel delivery.

It can be gathered from yesterday’s press release from the Commission, ‘Digital Single Market Strategy: European Commission agrees areas for action’, that the College of Commissioners has identified the most important areas for the creation of a digital European single market. Among those mentioned was the facilitation of cross-border e-commerce (especially for SMEs), with harmonised consumer and contract rules and with more efficient and affordable parcel delivery.

As the Commission has clearly distanced itself from its monitoring and assessing position and has now come out in favour of facilitating cross-border e-commerce as part of the creation of a digital single market, I would ask the Commission to provide the following information:

1.  Is there, in this context, already a timetable with specific proposals as to the form that these facilitations will take?

2.  Are measures already being planned in this area?

3.  If measures are not yet being planned, why is that the case and what is the further course of action?