Annual tax for ecommerce logistics players – A Spanish Experiment, and Other EU News

The Spanish city of Barcelona’s City Council believes that home deliveries cause congestion and pollution, therefore it wants to see 40% of online purchases delivered to pick-up points instead of directly to homes this year. To achieve this, Barcelona introduced an annual tax for logistics companies that offer home delivery. The Spanish city council first published the proposal in December. According to the plan, ecommerce logistics companies with a turnover of more than 1m euros a year will pay an income-based tax of 1.25%. The tax applies to home delivery of ecommerce parcels, but not delivery to businesses, pick-up points, shops or storage.

Meanwhile, the European Commission continues with its plan to require a withdrawal button on all goods sold online. As our EU colleagues say this widens “the regulation of financial services contracts by introducing an extension of the obligation to display a “withdrawal button” for all transactions concluded at a distance by means of an online interface”. In other words, this button would allow consumers to undo any transaction after placing an order, including any financial service contract, such as an insurance, etc. Seventeen European national trade organizations have recently published an open letter to the Commission to express their disapproval of the proposal.