The National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) has filed a contentious-administrative appeal against the Barcelona City Council tax levied on home delivery companies, but only if it is purchased online, which it considers “distorts competition”.
In a statement on Thursday, it has argued that several measures of the ordinance, known as the ‘Amazon tax’, “hinder competition and introduce distortions” in the markets of commercial retail distribution and postal distribution. In April 2023, the CNMC sent a request to the City Council explaining the elements it believed to be problematic, “in order to avoid challenge”.
He then pointed out to the consistory that the regulations do not apply to home deliveries of goods purchased in physical stores or by telephone, nor to deliveries that are not made by a postal operator, even if the purchase has been made online. An example would be the delivery of a purchase from a business through a delivery van of the merchant himself, even if it is an online purchase.
Turnover less than one million
The ordinance also does not tax postal operators with an annual turnover of less than one million euros in the city of Barcelona, which the CNMC considers “distorts competition” and does not see as justified.
The Commission has reported that the studies of the City Council conclude that there is no evidence that operators with a lower turnover use the public domain less than operators with a higher turnover.
