The Finnish Commerce Federation thanks the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment for setting up a working group to solve problems caused by distance selling outside the EU 

The Finnish Commerce Federation considers it important that the problems caused by distance selling outside the EU will finally be resolved in a coordinated manner. Until now, the theme has been the responsibility of seven different ministries. This has decentralised the guidance and has made it difficult to form an overall picture and implement effective policy measures.

“It’s great that the government is genuinely tackling this societal challenge and striving to find cross-administration solutions to it. The role of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment as the responsible party is the most natural, as e-commerce is directly related to the competitiveness of companies, functioning markets and the prerequisites for sustainable growth,” says Kari Luoto, Managing Director of the Finnish Commerce Federation.

Sellers operating from outside the EU and the platforms trading their products often comply with different rules than operators in the EU’s internal market. Many of these operators outside the EU avoid the EU’s product safety and consumer protection obligations and recycling obligations, among other things, which distorts competition and gives them an undue competitive advantage.

According to the Finnish Commerce Federation, the same rules must apply to all companies operating in the market, regardless of their business model. Achieving the same rules for everyone requires urgent measures at the EU level as well as nationally.

“Now that the working group’s term has been defined as being fairly short, it’s very welcome that we will rapidly receive concrete suggestions that will help improve the fairness of competition and the effectiveness of regulation,” says Luoto.

Stakeholders must be consulted when mapping out the proposed solutions

Companies in the commerce sector have suffered significantly from the distortion of competition caused by the expansion of the phenomenon. The sector has lost thousands of jobs in recent years, and the state loses up to hundreds of millions of euros in tax revenue annually. The Finnish Commerce Federation has called for effective measures to solve the problem and create a fair competitive situation for a long time.

“It’s important for the working group to hear the views of the stakeholders when considering the proposed solutions,” says Luoto.

For further information, please contact: Kari Luoto, Managing Director, Finnish Commerce Federation, tel. +358 400 688 708, kari.luoto(at)kauppa.fi