Amendments to Danish Postal Act

The Danish government obviously intends to lower the monopoly limit for letters from 100 to 50 grams from 2005. According topress reports, this is the most important amendment to the new Postal Act, due to come into force in June. In addition to the earlier lowering of the monopoly limit, the following amendments are expected: 1. All political parties agree that the legal framework for future competition between Post Danmark and other service providers should be regulated by national and EU competition laws only. 2. As far as the number of post office branches is concerned,the government intends to ensure that any town with morethan 5,000 inhabitants has at least one service point offering the full range of postal services. Today, existingbranches in smaller communities (between 2,000 and 5,000 inhabitants) are not allowed to close down. 3. The proceeds from the sale of 25% of Post Danmark’s shares are to be used to reduce government debt. 4. In the controversial matter of letter boxes in apartment blocks, the parties have now agreed that buildings erected before 1974 must be equipped with such letter boxes by December 2009.