On 21 May, EU4Digital is holding a virtual eCommerce Awareness event on ‘eCommerce changes in 2021 and beyond: what to expect and how to prepare the Eastern partner countries?’.  

The main goal of the session is to provide better knowledge on the changes and new rules for distance sales that are taking effect starting 1 July 2021 as part of the European Commission’s 2021 VAT e-commerce package. Additionally, several case studies will demonstrate how eCommerce stakeholders can prepare for the upcoming changes. More specifically, the event will focus on the following topics: 

• Trends and drivers shaping the EU eCommerce landscape. 
• The EU eCommerce package, upcoming changes and challenges. 
• Actions eCommerce actors should take – what and how to prepare?
• Case studies to prepare – examples of EU4Digital and beyond. 

Why is it especially relevant now to have awareness and prepare for the new rules?

eCommerce has become an essential business discipline with more and more companies switching to digital to sell their products online, because people are more inclined than before to buy goods on the web. Effective 1 July 2021, the EU new rules for distance selling are taking effect. Naturally, EU member states expect these rules to be considered and followed by all their trading partners, including non-EU businesses. The changes urge parcel delivery businesses, customs and taxes authorities, online marketplaces and sellers to adapt in order to avoid complications in cross-border eCommerce such as fines, delays in supply chain, lost revenues. The event participants will learn more about the upcoming changes (see figure below) and how to prepare for these changes: 

1. Mandatory electronic customs declaration; 
2. Available reduced customs data set to all parcel operators from July 2021;
3. Harmonised ID linking all assigned IDs on a parcel to items stored inside;
4. New rules to pay taxes for products valued < €150 through the Import One Stop Shop system. 

Figure 1: Overview of the 2021 changes in eCommerce area

The event expects to gather more than a hundred eCommerce stakeholders from the Eastern partner countries, including ministries, customs authorities, postal operators, marketplaces, business associations, as well as the EU Delegations and the EU4Digital working group members and the Virtual warehouse pilot participants. 

The meeting will be moderated by the EU4Digital team and will be built around the presentations and Q&A sessions of the following speakers:

• Walter Trezek, Chairman of the Universal Postal Union Consultative Committee and Vice-Chair of the e-Logistics Working group at the Ecommerce Europe
• Florian Seikel, Director General, German e-commerce association
• Jan Hyttel, Managing director of Joresco and Board member of GS1 Lithuania
• Vladimir Abramytchev, Digital Strategy Team lead at the European External Action Service 

If you are interested to take part in this event, please register through this link by 20 May, 2021. After you complete the form – EU4Digital will send you a calendar invite with the active link to join the event. 

Further information. The event is organised as a part of eCommerce networking events. Subscribe to the Newsletterto always be informed.