German regulator rejects allowing only some competitors in German postal market

Germany’s Federal Cartel Office still aims to abolish Deutsche Post World Net AG’s monopoly on letter delivery as of January 1 and rejects proposals to selectively allow only some competitors on Germany’s mail market, the Office’s new head Bernhard Heitzer told WirtschaftsWoche magazine in an interview.

‘Limitations that are dubbed reciprocity clauses should be taken with a pinch of salt,’ Heitzer told the magazine in an interview to be published on Monday.

Such clauses would limit expansion by European postal companies to those firms whose home market has already been liberalized, he said.

‘Such politically motivated limitations have proven a major obstacle in international trade too many times,’ Heitzer said.

He said he understands why Deutsche Post opposes the liberalization of Germany’s postal market, as a ‘monopoly is always comfortable and lucrative’ for a company.

But Deutsche Post is ‘set up well and does not have to be afraid of competition,’ Heitzer said.