Itella to review the effects of the implementation and funding of a universal service in the future

Itella will begin reviewing how the funding models of future universal service would affect the organisation of the Group’s domestic functions. The review will be carried out because of Itella’s preparations for the revisions in the postal services legislation which will come into force at the beginning of 2011. The revisions will implement the EU’s new Postal Directive, which was approved in 2008. In the future, it is possible that universal postal services in sparsely populated areas will also have to be financed partly by the state.

The parent company of Itella Group, Itella Corporation, currently comprises subsidiaries in Finland and abroad, as well as a considerable volume of domestic business. One possibility would be to transfer Itella’s domestic mail services into an independent subsidiary. After the intended transfer, Itella’s domestic postal services and other businesses would be more clearly separated with regard to accounting, which would promote the required transparency. The intended transfer would not affect the employment conditions for the personnel, or the number of employees.

A deadline has not yet been set for the completion of the review. Legislation pursuant to the Postal Directive must be in force from the beginning of 2011.