Licensing postal services A consultation document

29 September 2000

Licensing postal services

A consultation document

· Summary

This consultation document sets out Postcomm’s proposals for the structure and broad content of a licensing regime for the postal services market in the UK.

The Postal Services Act 2000, which establishes Postcomm as the regulator of postal services, requires operators offering certain services to be licensed. In particular, operators will require a licence to deliver mail costing less than £1 per item and weighing less than 350 grams.

The licence conditions suggested reflect the statutory duties placed on Postcomm by the Act. These include ensuring the delivery of a universal postal service throughout the UK and to promoting effective competition between postal operators. Possible mechanisms for applying licence conditions to the different circumstances of potential applicants are also proposed, as is a mechanism for setting amounts payable by licence holders to Postcomm.

The Post Office will need to be licensed. As a first step it is proposed to issue it with an interim licence or a licence with interim conditions when it converts to a public limited company in March 2001.

Postcomm would welcome views on what is proposed and any suggested additions to the list of consultees. Comments are requested by 1 December 2000.

Table of contents

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………. 1

What Is Postcomm?……………………………………………….. 1

Postcomm’s main duties……………………………………………….. 1

Background to licensing……………………………………………….. 1

Purpose of this document………………………………………………. 2

Layout of this document………………………………………………. 3

How to respond……………………………………………….. 3

Contributions to be seen by others…………………………………….. 3

2. Development of a postal licensing regime…………………………………… 5

Introduction……………………………………………….. 5

Postal services which require a licence………………………… 5

Statutory responsibilities…………………………………………… 5

The development of a licensing regime……………………………… 6

Duration and modification of licences………………………….. 8

Payments to Postcomm………………………………………….. 8

Licensing the Post Office……………………………………… 9

3. Licence conditions…………………………………………………….. 10

Introduction…………………………………………………. 10

Developing the portfolio of conditions…………………….. 10

Outline of conditions which may be included in full term licences……… 11

4. Licence application requirements……………………………………. 16

Introduction…………………………………………………….. 16

Application requirements………………………………………….. 16

5. Opening licence for the Post Office………………………….. 18

Purpose of the opening licence………………………….. 18

Outline of proposed conditions for the Post Office’s opening licence…. 18

Annex 1 – Consultees…………………………………………… 22

Annex 2 – Extracts from the Postal Services Act…………….. 29

1. Introduction

What Is Postcomm?

1.1 The Postal Services Act 2000 (the Act) establishes the Postal Services Commission (Postcomm) as the regulatory body for the postal services industry in the United Kingdom. Postcomm’s Corporate Plan, which can be found on its