New tax significantly slows down the flood of packages from China

“The amount of parcels from Asia, especially from China, that we deliver to Austria fell by around 40 percent in the first few weeks,” said Post boss Walter Oblin according to Oberösterreichische Nachrichten.

Oblin assumes, however, that delivery volumes will recover again because these retailers are changing their business model and will send their parcels from warehouses in Europe.

From November, all EU states will also be charging a processing fee for small parcels from third countries (including China, Great Britain, USA). A fee of 2 euros is being considered. Regardless of these EU regulations, a parcel tax is planned in Austria. The 2 euro parcel tax will apply from October 1st to large online retailers with sales of more than 100 million euros per year.

Criticism of the planned domestic parcel tax

Oblin has already admitted several times that he doesn’t believe in the domestic tax. The Austrian tax would ultimately also affect small domestic retailers who sell via large platforms, said the Post boss according to an OÖN interview.