Liberalisation, privatisation and regulation in the German postal services sector

The public monopoly in the German postal sector had already been called into question
in the public debate in the 1980s. In 1985 the German government, which at that time
was composed of a coalition of the Christian Democratic Party (CDU) and the Liberal
Party (FDP), established a government committee that dealt with possible forms and
steps of privatisation and liberalisation concerning the postal and telecommunications
sector (Wehner 2005: 5, 6). The official start for the privatisation and liberalisation of
the German Post (Deutsche Bundespost) was in 1989. Through the first postal reform
(Poststrukturgesetz/Postreform I) the German Post was divided into three sectors: postal
service, postal banking and telecommunications. The political functions (regulation of
the monopolies) were separated from the entrepreneurial ones. In the course of the
second postal reform (Postreform II), which came into force at the beginning of 1995,
the three postal corporations were transformed into incorporated companies. In the first
instance the German Federal Government retained all shares of the German Post which
was renamed the Deutsche Post AG (DPAG). These two steps were affected by the
(partial) privatisation and the preparation of further liberalisation measures. The process
of liberalisation reached its preliminary climax in 1998 when a new Postal Act
(Postgesetz) came into force. Via this Act the postal market was gradually opened to
competition by successively restraining the exclusive license of the DPAG; the end of
the exclusive license was originally planned to be in 2002 but was lengthened until the
end of 2007. Moreover, the rules for licensing were laid down and the terms for the
access to the market were defined.
In November 2000 the material privatisation of the DPAG began with its initial public
offer (IPO). In the course of the IPO the DPAG was renamed as the Deutsche Post
World Net (DPWN). In order to prepare for the imminent end of its monopoly the
DPWN made several acquisitions abroad.