PostNL says recent ACM decisions could cost the postal operator €30m-€50m
PostNL has announced today (1 October) that recent decisions made by the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) could cost the postal company between €30m and €50m over the next three to four years. The decisions in question, said PostNL, concerned the 2015 Tariffs and a tender for the Municipality of Rotterdam.
As previously reported by Post&Parcel, the ACM last month upheld complaints from Van Straaten Post and IntraMail that PostNL was overcharging the carriers who use its national network. ACM issued a statement on 15 September, saying that PostNL should charge the rival postal companies the same rate as it charges its own business customers for access to its national network.
On 26 July, ACM issued a statement saying that PostNL had “violated the Dutch Postal Act” in the tender process for postal services in the city of Rotterdam. According to ACM: “PostNL failed to share important tariff information with other postal companies, as a result of which they were unable to submit proper bids. In addition, PostNL also failed to make their competitors an offer (for using PostNL’s infrastructure for mail delivery).” This decision had also followed on from a complaint from Van Straaten Post.
In its statement today, PostNL set out its response: “PostNL is concerned about the possible adverse consequences of the decisions and possible measures for the postal market as these stimulate the resale of PostNL services rather than competition between postal networks. This creates the possibility for postal operators to collect mail from smaller customers and offer these to PostNL for discounts that are intended for large customers.
“PostNL expects the erosion of its tariff structure, increased complexity and additional operating costs. On the longer term, this could result in price increases, accelerated decline of the postal market and pressure on future innovations.”
Sources at PostNL told Post&Parcel that the company maintaining a dialogue with ACM to resolve their concerns. Indeed, PostNL’s statement concluded with a note about the importance of the “ongoing talks with ACM”, because it remains in their “common interest to safeguard a reliable and accessible postal network in the Netherlands”.
