LDP OKs revisions to postal bills

TOKYO, July 3 (Kyodo) _ (EDS: ADDING COMMENTS BY KOIZUMI, FUKUDA)

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Wednesday approved revisions to a set of bills on postal service deregulation proposed by the government, LDP lawmakers said.

At an extraordinary meeting of the policy-setting General Council held in the morning, the LDP approved changes to one of the bills on establishing a public corporation next year to take over state-run postal services.

Another bill to allow private firms to enter the mail delivery service under certain conditions was left unchanged.

Following the approval, the tripartite ruling coalition jointly submitted a revised bill on the public corporation to the Diet to have the package pass the House of Representatives at its plenary session Friday.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters that he appreciates efforts by concerned sectors to bring about the LDP’s approval.

“From the beginning, there has been strong resistance against the bills. But, for the sake of reforms, I believe that many (LDP) members understood” the principle of the bills, he said.

He repeated that he brands the establishment of public corporation “a milestone” for privatizing the postal services.

Since deregulation of the mail service is now in the process, Koizumi said he is determined to continue efforts for deregulating and possibly privatizing the remaining two state-run postal services — postal savings and “kampo” life insurance.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said at a separate news conference that deregulation of the remaining two services is “an important issue from now on.”

Deregulation of the postal services is a key component of Koizumi’s reform initiative, while some lawmakers with vested interests in posts-related services have remained cautious toward wide-ranging reforms.

The revisions made on the bill for the public corporation center mainly on three points — it should maintain post offices across the nation, it should be allowed to invest in businesses closely related to mail service, and it will receive preferential treatment on payments to the government.

The corporation will be allowed to pool its payments — equivalent to the corporate tax on ordinary companies — as reserves, and when the reserves accumulate to more than a certain level, it will pay part of the excess portion to the government.

A note in which the LDP describes the conditions of its approval for the bills was handed separately to the party’s top five senior officials.

It initially included a condition that said once the public corporation is set up, debate within the LDP over possible changes of the corporation’s management structure should be frozen for four years so as to allow it to solidify its business base.

But the condition was deleted after Koizumi late Tuesday blasted the idea, which would effectively postpone debate on possible privatization of the corporation.

The note, meanwhile, includes a demand that the government define the types of mail that private companies can handle when the service is opened to the private sector.

It also calls for the government to obtain advance consent of the ruling coalition parties when it issues guidelines and an ordinance for private firms’ operations in the mail service