Private delivery firms concerned over China postal law
Shanghai’s private express delivery firms will lobby the government for ‘fairness’ amid fears the latest draft for a new Chinese postal law will seriously disadvantage their businesses, the Shanghai Daily reported.
The latest draft, written by China Post, allows the state-backed firm to monopolize express delivery of all mail and goods lighter than 350 grams.
Previous drafts allowed private firms to handle deliveries under 350 grams as long as it was not personal mail, the paper said.
The new draft prevents private firms from delivering air tickets, business contracts, customs clearance papers, and greeting cards, among other items.
Those items account for at least 70 pct of the current business, Liu Heping, vice general manager of Shanghai East Union Express Co, one of the city’s biggest private delivery firms, told the paper.
Liu and his counterparts at Shanghai STO Express Co and Shanghai Tiantian Express Co, are major players in the industry.
The paper said they plan to go to Beijing next week to meet officials with the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission and other government authorities on behalf of Shanghai’s 6,000 private express delivery firms.
The draft is expected to be examined by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress in March, the report said.
