Spanish Post Office to benefit from reform

In Spain, the public works ministry has begun talks with private postal operators, state-owned postal operator Correos, trade unions and consumer groups to approve an amendment to the Postal Services Act of 1998. In practice, it would appear that the amendment would benefit Correos: in return for an extension of universal postal service obligations, according to which Correos would have to provide postal services to all parts of Spain, the government would pay the postal service provider subsidies and ensure Correos’ monopoly in certain areas. The implementation of the latter measure in particular would effectively reduce the size of Spain’s deregulated postal market. These measures are at odds with measures being proposed in neighboring countries. In France and Italy, for example, there is debate aimed at reducing universal service obligations. Under current laws, all Spanish postal service operators must pay 1 per cent of their turnover to the government to finance universal service obligations.