TRUCK & BUSINESS 283

We can only applaud the efforts made by Minister Petra De Sutter to restore order to the parcel service sector in Belgium. The disruptions (and we are putting it mildly) brought to light by the inspection services are so great that a response was absolutely necessary.

Since it is apparently impossible to enforce a minimum percentage for deliverers with a permanent contract, the federal government wants complete transparency about the identity of the deliverer, about the type of contract that binds him to the main contractor and about all subcontractors.

The deliverers are also subject to a 'time registration system'. In other words, Belgium is expanding national transport with the European rules on driving and rest times (including tachograph) from international transport. If we want to move towards a healthy sector, these first two pillars are crucial. It then only comes down to effectively implementing these pillars and setting up a control mechanism to ensure that the rules are applied.

“Petra De Sutter's intentions are noble, but it will be difficult to put her ideas into practice.”

The next step is even more difficult: the government also wants to impose a minimum hourly wage for all subcontractors, both for SMEs and independent deliverers. The intentions are in any case honourable (some deliverers receive 1 euro per successful delivery, imagine how many parcels they have to deliver to reach 200 euros per day...), but we wonder how this should be applied in practice for independent workers.

Let us assume for a moment that this approach will bear fruit in the long term. Who will then come out on top? Certainly not the consumer, because he will have to pay more for his parcel. But it is the only way to put an end to the myth of 'free' parcel returns. This is probably the biggest cause of the poor working conditions of deliverers. What has no price can have no value in any case. The big winner will ultimately be bpost! The staff works under an employment contract and it must be said that the service is on point. However, bpost enjoys a competitive advantage over the other players because it falls under a different joint committee. According to numerous observers, the company also uses direct or indirect state aid (there is currently a procedure pending at the European Court of Justice). If the federal government really intends to create a 'level playing field', it would be only normal that bpost's parcel service would work under the same conditions as its competitors.