Irish postal services to be authorised by Comreg

Irish postal service providers must be authorised by the Commission for Communications Regulation (Comreg) from January 1, 2004.

Under these terms a postal operator with a turnover of more than €500,000 must apply to Comreg for authorisation.

The applicants will only be granted an authorisation if Comreg is satisfied it can provide a postal service and it submits a written declaration that it will not infringe within An Post’s reserved area.

Those who receive authorisation will also need to present procedures to deal with complaints and postal security.

Non-compliance of the new regulations will result in a €3,000 penalty.

An Post will pay 0.25% of its turnover on the universal service area and 0.075% on other postal services.

New Comreg chairperson John Doherty said today: “Our objective is to provide a very simple and user-friendly authorization process which would cause the least disruption while at the same time defining minimum standards within the postal sector.”