Dutch government rejects calls for partial liberalisation of Dutch postal market

Economic Affairs State Secretary Frank Heemskerk has rejected a request from postal company Sandd BV for a partial liberalisation of the Dutch domestic postal market next year, the Economic Affairs Ministry said.

Sandd said yesterday it sent a letter to the state secretary proposing that newcomers to the Dutch postal market be allowed to deliver a limited amount of letters in 2008, despite the government’s decision last week to postpone the planned Jan 1 liberalisation of the market.

Under a liberalised market, TNT NV would lose its monopolistic position in the delivery of letters weighing under 50 grams.

But in its letter to Heemskerk, Sandd requested permission to deliver no more than 50 mln letters weighing less than 50 grams until the Dutch market could be fully liberalised.

It said the partial liberalisation of the market would allow Sandd to meet contractual agreements that had been signed in expectation of full market liberalisation.

But a ministry spokesman confirmed a report in newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad this morning that Heemskerk rejected the proposal.

‘We can’t tolerate a partial liberalisation because we can’t make a distinction between one company and another. It is too complex,’ the spokesman said, adding that the government was legally able to postpone the liberalisation.

In postponing the complete liberalisation last week, Heemskerk said there are too many uncertainties regarding the postal market.

The state secretary will now issue an evaluation of the postal market at the end of February and if concerns are resolved, the market can be fully opened from April 1 at the earliest.

‘We can open the market on a quarterly basis,’ the spokesman said.