Gradual opening of Japanese mail service draws support at study panel

Calls for gradually privatizing the mail service were dominant at a government-commissioned study panel meeting convened Wednesday to discuss steps to create a new public entity in fiscal 2003 to take over the state-run service, government officials said.

Many panel members supported opening the mail service to private companies in a step-by-step manner, as rapid privatization would undermine the current “universal service,” in which collection and delivery of mail is uniformly available anywhere in Japan, to the detriment of the planned public entity’s financial base, the officials said.

At present, the Postal Services Agency monopolizes the mail service. Planning to open the service to private businesses from fiscal 2003, the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications has asked the study panel to recommend steps to establish the new public entity that will take over three postal services — mail, savings and insurance — from the government.

During the day’s meeting, panel chairman Nobuya Minami, president of Tokyo Electric Power Co., proposed setting terms for privatizing the mail service if step-by-step opening is opted for, while some members called for the panel to declare complete privatization in the future.

The panel will draft a package of recommendations Nov. 13 and finalize it in December after hearing opinions from businesses and other concerned parties. Based on the package, the ministry will submit legislation for the creation of the new public entity to an ordinary Diet session to be convened next January.