Deutsche Post's letter monopoly to end in early 2008

The German government has revealed that the letter monopoly of Deutsche Post, the German postal service operator, will end on 1 January 2008, irrespective of developments in other EU member states.

CEP Research:
German govt confirms full postal liberalisation in January 2008
18-05-06

The German government has confirmed that the country’s postal market will be fully liberalised as of January 1, 2008, ending Deutsche Post’s remaining monopoly on letters under 50g.

The cabinet approved a statement from the country’s economics ministry which confirmed the postal monopoly would expire on December 31, 2007, in line with current legislation. The government would neither speed up the expiry of Deutsche Post’s exclusive licence – as demanded by competitors – nor extend it.

The German economics minister, Michael Glos, declared: “The postal market is preparing for liberalisation on January 1, 2008. We want to keep to this timetable.” Germany saw itself in line with other important European countries such as the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland where the market would also be liberalised by that date. These countries represented 60% of European postal volumes.

On the controversial issue of VAT on postal products, the German government said that it fundamentally supported equal treatment for all postal companies in view of the current market distortion, and would review the legal situation. The European Commission recently launched legal measures against Germany and the UK over the VAT exemption for Deutsche Post and Royal Mail on the price of postal products and services.

The European Commission aims to secure full postal liberalisation in all EU states in 2009 and will publish proposals later this year. But it faces long political discussions among member states prior to any agreement.

Source: CEP-Research