Deutsche Post says queried by German cartel authorities
German postal giant Deutsche Post DPWGn.DE said on Monday the German cartel authorities were looking into complaints that new contracts with some of its agencies broke competition laws.
A Deutsche Post spokesman said the group had been approached by the German cartel office about the complaints and the company had until the end of March to give a formal reply. The group has about 7,000 private agencies like bakeries or grocery stores that also sell postal products, he said.
Contracts with those agencies, which were previously based on the number of services or products sold, were now being re-done on a flat-fee basis.
The new contracts could lead to lower payments to the agencies, he said, and some agencies had complained as a result.
“The contracts are still positive for the agencies from our point of view,” the spokesman said, adding the they continued to create more income for the stores in a tough economic climate.
He denied a report in newspaper Westaflen-Blatt that a formal investigation against Deutsche Post had already been launched by the authorities.
The postal, express, logistics and banking group is in the middle of a restructuring programme aimed at boosting core earnings by 40 percent over the next three years.
