A balanced scenario for the Swiss postal market
Swiss Post has said the draft legislation approved by the Federal Council on 20 May is an appropriate basis for developing the postal market. Swiss Post has said the draft legislation approved by the Federal Council on 20 May is an appropriate basis for developing the postal market.
The postal operator said in a statement:
The draft law continues to offer Swiss Post an opportunity to assert itself as a contemporary, competitive company. However, in order to succeed in the long term and finance the basic service from its own resources, it must be able to grow. Among other things, it must be able to offer mortgages and loans under its own name. Swiss Post still expects to see changes made to the law by Parliament.
Providing a high-quality public service is and remains the core mandate for Swiss Post. It is committed to providing a good basic service and aims to continue doing so, even under changing conditions, so as to satisfy the public and the economy. Swiss Post is a modern, competitive company. As a leading provider of postal services in the communication market it has positioned itself successfully as a financial services provider, is well placed in the logistics market and is a respected player in the public transport sector.
Swiss Post itself created the entrepreneurial conditions for mastering competition successfully. Swiss Post wants to remain financially independent in the future, too, and provide the basic postal service using its own resources. The draft laws approved by the Federal Council are basically suitable as an external framework.
Deregulation after a transition period
Swiss Post acknowledges the Federal Council’s intention to fully liberalize the postal market within a few years. It is keen for action to be taken in a circumspect manner and therefore considers a transition period of three years as of the time the new postal legislation takes effect as appropriate. The possibility of a referendum on deregulation will make it possible to incorporate the public's view on this important change of direction.
Financing the basic service
The regulations proposed by the Federal Council for the basic service guarantee good consumer protection. By enabling Swiss Post to adapt the basic service to demographic trends, customer needs and technological change, these regulations create the preconditions for ensuring that Swiss Post will still be able to finance itself even if there is no longer a residual monopoly. However, this is subject to the proviso that Swiss Post's entrepreneurial freedom is not hampered.
Expanded purpose clause needed
It is essential for Swiss Post that it can also invest in lucrative sectors which extend beyond the conventional areas of activity. In this respect, it is already heavily involved in the interface between the physical and digital worlds. From Swiss Post's point of view, the purpose clause in the new Postal Organization Act fulfils this entrepreneurial requirement. However, this purpose clause considerably restricts Swiss Post's room for manoeuvre in the financial market. Swiss Post regrets that the Federal Council does not want to allow PostFinance to offer customers mortgages and loans in its own name. It views this as a lost opportunity for the Swiss economy and for a sustainably healthy Swiss Post Group. Swiss Post is calling on Parliament to amend the purpose clause accordingly.
Fair terms of employment in the postal sector
Swiss Post considers it imperative that it can employ staff on a private-sector basis subject to the Swiss Code of Obligations, as provided for by the draft legislation. It is supporting the Federal Council in obliging all postal companies to conduct negotiations in favour of collective employment contracts. Swiss Post also welcomes a collective employment contract for the Swiss postal market.
No unnecessary regulation of network access
Swiss Post welcomes the fact that in the draft legislation the Federal Council basically regulates access of Swiss Post's competitors to Swiss Post's P.O. boxes and address-change data but leaves the details of the cooperation up to market players. One-sided access rules would mean that Swiss Post's competitors would concentrate solely on the lucrative market segments and simply channel the remaining items into the postal network. This would distort competition and cut into Swiss Post's revenue base significantly. In this case, Swiss Post would no longer be able to finance the public service from its own resources. This was already demonstrated in a study published by the DETEC.
