Postcomm seeks consent from UK mail operators for licence changes
Royal Mail’s rivals have been asked by Postcomm to consent to its final proposed modifications to their existing licences ahead of the introduction of full postal competition in January.
Postcomm has come up with a new standard licence for alternative operators to Royal Mail after industry-wide consultation.
The licence would replace those it has already issued to 10 operators and take effect from January 1 2006, but all those operators need to agree to the changes.
Postcomm said it would talk to the operators informally to get their consent, but if not all of them give it, it would mean referring the proposed changes to the Competition Commission for it to rule on them. This could potentially delay full market opening.
The new licence has a 10-year length and includes two codes of practice, requiring adherence to minimum standards on mail integrity and common operational procedure.
The code of practice on mail integrity includes rules on staff recruitment, disciplinary procedures and mail security. The second code of practice on common operational procedure covers identification of mail operator on mail and procedures for redirection of mail.
A potential sticking point could be the supply of delivery performance figures by operators. The licence stipulates that this information should be made available in a format agreed with Postwatch, and provides the ability for Postcomm and Postwatch to publish the information.
However, the Mail Competition Forum representing the operators had argued in the consultation that the supply of such information should be voluntary. Royal Mail took the opposite stance.
