Competition in services for couriers to Germany is set to receive a boost, after Germany's parliament voted to end VAT privileges for Deutsche Post from July.

The national postal service has been exempt from charging VAT on delivery services due to its obligations to serve every address in Germany.

The Bundesrat has now voted to bring Germany's postal services into line with the rest of the EU, by allowing other providers the same privileges if they provide a similar universal service.

As such, it is expected that Deutsche Post will start to charge VAT on its business post and courier activities in Germany in order to recoup costs.

Thousands of UK households and small businesses send packages via courier to Germany each week – and this levelling of the market should benefit them, through greater competition and lower costs.