80% of Logistics Firms May Exit Market! Russian Government's Plan to Sharply Raise Entry Barriers Sparks Industry Protests

[Ebrun Exclusive] April 19, according to foreign media reports, the Russian Association of Cross-Border E-commerce and Express Delivery (ATED) has requested Prime Minister Mishustin not to approve a bill aimed at supporting Russian Post. The association's head confirmed the authenticity of the letter, and similar appeals have been sent to the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) and the Ministry of Economic Development.

ATED believes the new regulations aim to squeeze out private enterprises. According to the association's assessment, up to 80% of logistics companies could be forced out of the e-commerce delivery market as a result.

The bill, drafted by the Ministry of Digital Development, proposes significantly raising licensing requirements for postal operators, including:

registered capital of no less than 5 million rubles; own funds ranging from 1 to 2 billion rubles; risk guarantee funds of 100 to 200 million rubles; a license validity period of 10 years; and license fees set at 100 million rubles for federal-level operators, 10 million for regional-level, and 1 million for local-level operators, while subsidiaries of Russian Post are exempt from these fees.

The bill also stipulates that e-commerce platforms must set up pickup points within Russian Post offices and operate under postal rules after obtaining a commercial license.

Previously, among measures to support Russian Post, there were discussions about imposing a 3% fee on interregional delivery revenue to fund its development. The Association of Digital Platforms (whose members include Wildberries, Ozon, Yandex, Sber, and Avito) estimates that if implemented, this policy would impose approximately 90 billion rubles in additional annual costs on e-commerce platforms.

The proposals have caused significant upheaval in Russia's logistics industry.

ATED stated that with the regulatory changes, a large number of third-party companies would be forced to exit, and remaining firms would have to restructure their business processes. The ultimate result would be reduced competition, higher shipping costs, and declining service quality due to system overload.

The association's head emphasized that the business community not only advocates rejecting the current version of the bill but also hopes to return to expert-level discussions to find a balance between state and corporate interests. He stated that the industry supports developing the national postal operator but not at the cost of "radical reform."

Furthermore, vague wording in the document has drawn criticism, such as unclear criteria for selecting contractors, unspecified requirements for pickup points (PVZ), and unresolved questions about whether foreign carriers need licenses, which also makes practitioners "quite uneasy."

Besides ATED, the Association of Internet Trade Companies (AKIT), the Association of E-commerce Market Participants (AUREK), and other non-governmental organizations have also opposed the bill.

ATED brings together major players in Russia's cross-border e-commerce and express delivery sectors, representing companies that handle about 70% of international e-commerce parcels. Russian Post, as the universal service operator, has over 40,000 offices nationwide but has been operating at a long-term loss due to heavy regulatory burdens and competition from e-commerce platforms.

According to its development strategy approved for 2025, Russian Post plans to break even by 2030 and increase revenue from 225.5 billion rubles in 2024 to 387.5 billion rubles. The company sees electronic letter services and commercial parcel delivery as its main future revenue sources.

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