Annexes to COM(2013)36 - Setting up a European retail action plan - Main contents
Please note
This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2013)36 - Setting up a European retail action plan. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2013)36  |
| date | January 31, 2013 |
7. Through dialogue with stakeholders, the Commission will define best practices to make supply chains more environmentally-friendly and sustainable and minimise the energy consumption of retail outlets. The Commission will encourage retailers in the context of existing fora to apply these best practices.
3.5 Developing More Innovative Solutions
Innovation is one the most crucial factors in ensuring economic growth. Retailers are major drivers of innovation. They closely follow consumer trends, which they also help to form, and they pass this information on to suppliers. They act as ‘innovation multipliers’ that rapidly adopt and deploy novel technologies throughout the supply chain. Retailers are early adopters of new technologies, bringing innovation and added value to the whole of the retail chain. In the logistics sector, for example, intelligent retailers’ warehouses allow heavy loads to be moved effortlessly and faster than they can be manually, and therefore more efficiently, thus reducing the risk of occupational accidents, while increasing productivity. Some retailers have also developed dedicated facilities allowing the pick-up and delivery of goods ordered on-line, contributing to a more sustainable supply chain.
However, many EU retailers have not reinvented themselves fast enough to reap the full potential of new technologies. This may be partially due to the specific features of retail services (e.g., easily copied, always customer-driven, often non‑technological and service-oriented). Nevertheless, in an international context, most players in the United States can be seen to have invested heavily in retail innovation.
Adequate mechanisms should, therefore, be put in place to improve retailers’ involvement in the Innovation Union flagship initiative that provides for a comprehensive innovation strategy from research to retail33. Innovative technological solutions should be explored to help overcome the fragmentation of markets due to divergent regulatory regimes between Member States, and to relax burdensome and costly mandatory rules. Bringing research results and ideas to the market faster through better involvement of retailers in this process would also help boost productivity levels in the retail sector.
Achieving a level playing field for actors in the area of innovation could help promote even closer integration of the Single Market, while at the same time promoting the best practices coming from SME innovators. Most SMEs have a great capacity for innovation regardless of whether they are young high-tech companies or traditional craft enterprises, whether they are mainly active in local markets or have customers world-wide. More than a quarter (27%) of SMEs pursuing innovation activities in the EU introduced new or improved products to the market in 2008 alone34.
In the retail sector, SMEs perform a very important role in ensuring the availability (in terms of space, time and range) of products and services for consumers. Since retail is a consumer oriented sector, SMEs' in-depth market knowledge allows them to rapidly identify where new technologies can help meet consumer demand. Moreover, due to their organisational flexibility, SMEs are able easily to develop new products and services, or modify existing ones, so that they best meet consumer needs.
3.5.1 Product Labelling
Different mandatory labelling requirements can hinder operators from freely sourcing across the EU when looking for a better price. The existing EU regulatory regime on labelling of foodstuffs35 harmonises mandatory food information. However, it also allows for the introduction of additional mandatory labelling requirements at national level on certain specific grounds. Thus, even though the rules applied in the Member States are similar, in some cases product marketing requires country-by-country compliance assessment. The resulting legal complexity can hamper cross-border sourcing, and make it difficult to reap the benefits of economies of scale.
Increased transparency in this area would bring benefits to all stakeholders. A feasibility study for a pilot database bringing together both EU and national labelling requirements in the food sector will be launched, in order to make information on labelling rules accessible to all. Innovative technological solutions can be explored (e.g., using bar-code scanners in shops to provide the required information in lieu of traditional labels), that could provide cost-efficient, consumer-oriented solutions.
3.5.2 Electronic Payments
According to a recent study published by the European Central Bank36, the costs to society of providing retail payment services are substantial. On average, they amount to 1% of GDP, or some €130 billion for 2009. Around half of these social costs are incurred by banks and payment infrastructures, while 46% are borne by retailers. Social costs exclude fees paid to other market actors in the payment service transaction chain. If such fees are included, the total cost of payments for retailers is even higher than for banks and infrastructures. Hence, payments represent a significant component of the cost of doing business for EU merchants.
Electronic payments offer important opportunities in this field. The market for retail payments is dynamic and has seen significant developments with the emergence of e-commerce. While banks and card schemes are still dominant in retail payments, other payment methods have emerged, such as non-card-based internet and mobile payments, driven by the growing penetration of smartphones, and show strong future growth potential37.
The Commission Green Paper on card, internet and mobile payments38 strives to promote an integrated European market in these areas for the benefit of consumers and merchants. The benefits stemming from greater integration include:
- More competition between payment providers, and a level playing field between incumbents and new players.
- More choice and transparency in payment services for consumers and merchants.
- More innovation in payment services, and enhanced security supporting the development of e- commerce.
The Green Paper and the ensuing stakeholder consultations identified a number of possible hurdles for the market integration of card, internet and mobile payments. These include:
- Restricted market access for new, card- or non-card-based, payment service providers; (e.g., access to information on payment accounts by third-party providers, or access to clearing and settlement systems for new payment providers).
- Strongly varying (between Member States) and possibly excessive levels of multi-lateral interchange fees (MIFs) for card payments. Such fees represent the major share of the fees being charged by acquirers to merchants for accepting card payments.
- Obstacles that prevent merchants from benefitting from cross-border or centralised acquisition of card payments.
- Standardisation and inter-operability gaps for the provision of card, internet and mobile payments, and resulting disincentives for merchants to invest in the necessary infrastructure, such as payment terminals;
Some of the measures addressing these issues could be introduced through the revision of the Payment Services Directive39 and the introduction of an enhanced governance model for retail payments in the EU. The Commission has also announced a legislative proposal on MIFs in its Communication on the Single Market Act II40.
Actions:
8. The Commission will launch a retail innovation initiative in 2013 whereby the Commission, with the help of high-level experts, will explore how to ensure that the retail sector can contribute to, and benefit from, innovative products, services and technologies. On that basis, the Commission will design concrete actions focused on boosting retail competitiveness, such as bringing research results to the market faster, integrating the e-commerce and brick-and-mortar environments, new ways of informing consumers about products, the development of innovation-friendly regulations and standards, etc.
9. The Commission will examine the feasibility of setting up a dedicated database containing all EU and domestic food labelling rules and providing a simple way to identify labelling requirements per product.
10. The Commission will take measures to ensure better market integration for card, internet and mobile payments through:
a. Revision of the Payment Services Directive;
b. An enhanced governance model for retail payment services; and,
c. A legislative proposal on multi-lateral interchange fees for payment cards.
3.6 Creating a Better Working Environment
The fluidity of the job market is extremely important in enabling the retail sector to provide access to jobs for young, unqualified and/or seasonal workers (32 % of all retail employees are unskilled or semi-skilled, compared to an average of 27 % in the workforce as a whole). Retail services act often as a starting point for those who are entering or re-entering the job market (15 % of all workers in the retail sector are under 24-years old, compared to an average of 9 %; 30 % of retail-sector employees work part-time, compared to an average of 20 %)41.
Given the significant labour force employed in the retail sector, the sector should fully benefit from facilitated mobility for workers, so that skills can be employed where they are most relevant. This is essential to maximise the contribution of the sector to EU growth. The measures proposed will help make better use of available skills, especially for SMEs, given the high share of self-employed in the sector.
3.6.1 Skills-Needs Mismatch
Existing mismatches between labour force skills and the needs of the retail sector pose significant challenges for the optimal functioning of the sector. To address this shortcoming, the current and future workforce needs to have the right skills portfolio, which will require an accurate ex-ante analysis of skill needs. Identification of the skills needs and mismatches are particularly relevant to enhancing the employability of young people entering the labour market, the long-term unemployed, older workers, immigrants and the disabled. In addition, on-going innovation and the resulting increase in levels of automation in the retail sector would require workers to update their skill sets frequently in order to adapt to changing work and tasks.
To achieve the above aims, public investment alone will not be sufficient. Responsibility for the investment in skills will have to be shared, and the retail sector must play a greater role alongside governments, individuals, and the educational sector. Even in the current situation, where the focus is on controlling budgetary expenditures, reducing investment in education and training should not be an option. On the contrary, substantial and smart investment in skills development will not only secure the best "value for money", but will also help reap the benefits of people's potential. As underlined in the Communication “Rethinking Education”42, in order to ensure an adequately and appropriately skilled workforce, efforts to modernise education and training systems will have to be multiplied. Retail sector enterprises should play an important role in shaping the new curricula, developing training and apprenticeship programmes, and cooperating closely with education systems to identify the areas on which to focus, such as increasing environmental skills amongst employees, or achieving better supplier relations. Enhancing school-business partnerships, including dual training systems for apprentices supported by the European Alliance for Apprenticeships43, and introducing different forms of traineeships and scholarships, can be useful for both parties: businesses in the retail sector can thus ensure that they have access to a well-trained workforce with the right skills, while schools can attract more students if their curriculum provides a diploma that has a higher value on the labour market. In addition, at EU level, sector specific instruments have been recently developed and tested to support stronger and more structured partnerships between skills providers and businesses. One of them, the Sector Skills Alliances44 proposed under the new Erasmus for All Programme45, might be particularly fitted to address the specific needs of the retail sector. Regeneration projects are good examples of how retailers can work together with local authorities to tackle long-term unemployment.
Skills mismatches vary widely across sectors and across the EU, and also differ in their duration. In order to reduce the skills gap faced by companies and jobseekers all stakeholders, including companies and social partners in the retail sector, should get involved in defining the qualitative and quantitative skills needs of the sector in the short, medium and long term.
The launch in 2012 of a European Sectoral Skills Council for the commerce sector – covering retail and wholesale – is expected to play a crucial role in building up sector skills intelligence together with national skills councils in this sector. Feeding into the recently launched EU Skills Panorama46 the work of these skills councils will contribute to anticipate and prevent gaps and mismatches by providing stakeholders with information on the evolution of skills needs and employment. Better anticipation will allow Member States companies, as well as individuals, to make better-informed choices and investments.
3.6.2 Informal Economy
Undeclared work is an important issue in the retail sector. Workers in the informal economy47 are excluded from existing health coverage and social benefits. This entails high social risks, and low income and social protection, for these workers. Moreover, the existence of an informal economy leads to budget revenue losses through reducing taxes and social security contributions paid. Therefore, it adds a higher tax burden on registered labour and affects the competitiveness of Member States.
The Commission will engage all interested parties in a dialogue to assess the impact of the informal economy on working conditions and to determine how to design an EU approach to fight it48.
The Commission services will work together to ensure that the particularities of the retail sector are taken into account when implementing any action designed to combat the informal economy.
Action:
11. The Commission will strengthen cooperation with social partners to create conditions that make it possible to match skills with labour market needs in the retail sector, particularly by identifying and anticipating skills needs through an EU Sectoral Skills Council, and by improving retailers' training and reskilling policies.
3.7 International Dimension
International trade barriers in retail (to establishment and other supply modes, such as restrictions on franchising and e-commerce) constitute a major constraint on growth and jobs creation. Currently, as many as 36 million jobs in the EU depend, directly or indirectly, on trade. Accessing third-country markets opens important channels for European actors, especially SMEs, allowing them to tap into the growth of those markets. Retail access to third-country markets has a significant growth-multiplication potential for the EU economy. European retailers can play an important role as export drivers by supplying EU-manufactured products to third countries, paving the way to SMEs' access to markets outside the EU. It is accordingly proposed to set up, in close dialogue with the retail sector, an EU strategy to open up international trade and address existing barriers, in particular by means of:
- Better gathering of information on third-country trade barriers to retail, in order to help the relevant Commission services monitor the implementation of existing Free Trade Agreements and prepare future negotiations; and,
- Improving the SME Helpdesk49, as well as the Export Helpdesk and the Market Access databases, in order to extend their respective scopes to cover services.
4. CONCLUSION: CONTINUOUS DIALOGUE WITH THE RETAIL SECTOR
Given the potential for growth and employment that retail services can contribute to the EU economy as a whole, there is a need for a coherent and holistic strategy addressing the bottlenecks which currently hamper their full development.
Enabling access to more competitive and sustainable retail services, empowering consumers to make better informed choices about the products they wish to purchase, developing a more balanced retail supply chain, supporting innovative solutions, bringing research results to the market faster, and creating a better working environment in retail will all contribute to this goal.
The 11 concrete actions50 set out in this Action Plan should be implemented by 2014 in order to achieve a Single Market in Retail. It is essential that this Action Plan be executed in parallel with other initiatives, in particular those concerning the full implementation of the Services Directive, the E-Commerce Action Plan, and the on-going initiatives in the payments field.
The Commission will monitor developments and report on the progress in implementing this Action Plan by issuing a report in 2015. This monitoring will be done on the basis of the on-going discussions within the EU institutions, with Member States, and with representatives of the retail sector and other relevant stakeholders through the Group on Retail Competitiveness.
1Source: Eurostat SBS (2010).
2This Action Plan covers all distributive trades (Section G of the NACE Rev 2 classification: NACE), including automotive, wholesale and retail trade. Therefore, the title "Retail Action Plan" is intended to have a wider scope than "retail" stricto sensu.
3 http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/consumer_research/editions/docs/7th_edition_scoreboard_en.pdf
4Retail market monitoring report, ‘Towards more efficient and fairer retail services in the internal market for 2020’ (COM(2010) 355 final, of 5 July 2010).
5European Parliament resolution of 5 July 2011 on a more efficient and fairer retail market (2010/2109(INI)).
6Organised during the first quarter of 2012 with representatives of the main stakeholders in the retail supply chain (summaries of the meetings are available at http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/retail/index_en.htm).
7Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on services in the internal market (OJ No L 376 of 27 December 2006, p. 36.)
8Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European and Economic Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the implementation of the Services Directive: “A partnership for new growth in services 2012-2015” (COM(2012) 261final of 8 June 2012); and Staff Working Documents (2012)146 final, 147 final and 148 final of 8 June 2012.
9 Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European and Economic Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions ‘A Digital Agenda for Europe’ (COM(2010) 245 final of 26 August 2010).
10 Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European and Economic Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions ‘A coherent framework for building trust in the digital single market for e-commerce and online services’ (COM(2011) 942 final of 11 January 2012 also known as the E-Commerce Action Plan).
11Staff Working document accompanying the Retail Market Monitoring Report (SEC(2010) 807), p. 11.
12 The proposed approach is in line with the principles announced in the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European and Economic Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions “EU Regulatory Fitness ” (COM (2012) 746 final of 12 December 2012). In this context the Commission is committed to reviewing existing legislation in the retail sector with a view to identify the potential for simplifying rules and reducing regulatory costs for business and citizens without compromising public policy objectives.
13Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European and Economic Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions “A European Consumer Agenda - Boosting confidence and growth” (COM(2012) 225 final of 22 May 2012).
14Consumer market study on the functioning of e-commerce and internet market and selling techniques in the retail of goods, CIVIC consulting, 2011: http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/consumer_research/market_studies/e_commerce_study_en.htm
15 https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/code-eu-online-rights
16http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications/economic_paper/2012/ecp456_en.htm
17CJEU judgment C-400/08, Commission v/ Spain of 24 March 2011.
18To assess the appropriateness of environmental measures, various tools will be used, including the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Directive (Directive 2001/42/EC). In addition, for concrete projects such as the construction of shopping centres and car parks, a 'screening' under Article 4(2) of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive (Directive 2011/92/EU) has to be carried out, on the basis of which it will be decided if a full EIA procedure is necessary.
19COM(2012) 261 final.
20Staff Working Document to the Communication on the implementation of the Services Directive (SWD(2012)148 final of 8 June 2012).
21Source: Eurostat, ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises, 2011.
22Source: Eurostat, ICT usage in households and by individuals, 2011.
23Internet Matters, the net's sweeping impact on growth, jobs, and prosperity, McKinsey Global institute, May 2011.
24Source: EBay study, "Enabling traders to enter and grow on the global stage", June 2012.
25AIM, CEJA, CELCAA, CLITRAVI, Copa-Cogeca, ERRT, EuroCommerce, EuroCoop, FoodDrinkEurope, UEAPME and UGAL.
26E.g., the EU EMAS Sectoral Reference Document on Best Environmental Management Practices (BEMPs) in the Retail Trade Sector.
27JRC/IPTS Pilot Reference Document on Best Environmental Management Practice in the Retail Trade Sector (2011), http://susproc.jrc.ec.europa.eu/activities/emas/documents/RetailTradeSector.pdf and JRC/IPTS (Styles et al), Environmental Improvement of Product Supply Chains: A Review of European Retailer' Performance, Resources, Conservation and Recycling 65 (2012) 57-78, and, Environmental Improvement of Product Supply Chains: Proposed Best Practice Techniques, Quantitative Indicators and Benchmarks of Excellence for Retailers, Journal of Environmental Management 110 (2012) 135-150.
28 As announced in the Single Market Act, the Commission will adopt a Communication on the Single Market for Green Products in 2013 including harmonised criteria and methodologies for environmental footprinting for certain product categories.
29JRC/IPTS Pilot Reference Document on Best Environmental Management Practice in the Retail Trade Sector for a description of techniques to explore the Retail Sector's significant energy-saving potential.
30http://ec.europa.eu/environment/industry/retail/index_en.htm
31Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European and Economic Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions “on the Sustainable Consumption and Production and Sustainable Industrial Policy Action Plan (COM (2008) 397 final of 16 July 2008).
32 The Retail Agreement on Waste (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/industry/retail/event_2012/pdf/retail-agreement-on-waste.pdf) was signed in October 2012 at the Retail Forum annual event by 19 retail companies and associations that committed to implement at least two awareness-raising initiatives on waste reduction by mid-2014.
33Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European and Economic Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions “Europe 2020 Flagship Initiative Innovation Union” (COM (2010) 546 final of 6 October 2010).
34Innovation Union Competitiveness Report (2011); http://ec.europa.eu/research/innovation-union/index_en.cfm?section=competitiveness-report&year=2011
35Directive 2000/13/EC harmonises general provisions on labelling of foodstuffs; to be replaced by Regulation 1169/2011 as of 13 December 2014.
36"The social and private costs of retail payment instruments: a European perspective", Occasional Paper Series, ECB, No. 137, Frankfurt, September 2012.
37Report of the Working Group on Innovations in Retail Payments — Bank for International Settlements, May 2012.
38Green Paper "Towards an integrated European market for card, internet and mobile payments", (COM(2011) 941 final of 11 January 2011).
39Directive 2007/64/EC of 13 November 2007 on payment services in the internal market amending Directives 97/7/EC, 2002/65/EC, 2005/60/EC and 2006/48/EC and repealing Directive 97/5/EC (OJ No L 319, of 5 December 2007, p. 1).
40Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European and Economic Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions "Single Market Act II -Together for new growth", (COM(2012) 573 final of 3 October 2012).
41Structural features of distributive trades and their impact on prices in the euro area, ECB, Occasional Paper, No 128, September 2011.
42 Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European and Economic Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions “Rethinking Education: Investing in skills for better socio-economic outcomes” (COM (2012) 669 final of 20 November 2012).
43 Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European and Economic Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions “Moving Youth into Employment” (COM (2012) 727 final of 5 December 2012)
44 http://ec.europa.eu/education/news/20120425_en.htm
45 Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European and Economic Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions “ERASMUS FOR ALL: The EU Programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport” (COM(2011) 787 final of 23 November 2011).
46 http://euskillspanorama.ec.europa.eu/
47Activities and income falling fully or partially outside government regulation and taxation.
48In particular the 2013 Commission Work Programme mentions the establishment of a "European platform to fight undeclared work". This platform will aim to cover all the key areas influenced by undeclared work and to support a more effective fight against undeclared work by way of improving cooperation, sharing best practice and identifying common principles. This initiative was announced in the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European and Economic Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions "Towards a job-rich recovery" (COM(2012)173 final of 18 April 2012also known as the "Employment Package").
49A specific facility operated by the Commission to address traders’ concerns and enquiries by improving its targeted approach towards SMEs.
50All actions proposed to be taken up by the Commission in this document are consistent and compatible with the current Multiannual Financial Framework (2007-2013) and with the proposal for the new Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020.
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