Retail
Retail is the second largest EU service sector after financial services, generating 4.5% of the value added in the EU economy and providing 8.6% of all jobs in the EU. EU households spend up to one-third of their budgets in retail shops. The sector is changing rapidly with the development of e-commerce and multi-channel retailing, and has the potential to perform better. Fewer restrictions in retail mean higher productivity in manufacturing. A more efficient retail sector can offer consumers lower prices which creates more demand and steers producers towards more innovative goods. This is why the Commission is helping Member States and operators to overcome the current challenges by addressing an accumulation of restrictions in the retail sector. Lobbying on packaging has stepped up this year, and the retail sector via Eurocommerce has responded by “calling on the Commission to take robust and rapid action to tackle national packaging legislation infringing Single Market principles and the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive.”