German Cartel Office says new rules will help Deutsche Post 'cement' monopoly

The minimum wage in the German postal-services industry and plans to maintain a sales tax exemption for Deutsche Post AG will help the company ‘cement’ its monopoly, the head of the German Cartel Office told Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

Imposing a minimum wage on the industry was a ‘regulatory sin’ and plans to only grant a sales tax exemption for postal services to companies that provide country-wide services will subdue burgeoning rivals, German antitrust regulator Bernhard Heitzer said in an interview with the newspaper.

‘We shouldn’t make the same mistakes that were made in the energy industry, where the market was liberalised without providing for the right competitive framework,’ Heitzer said.

The minimum wage in the German postal-services industry and plans to maintain a sales tax exemption for Deutsche Post AG will help the company ‘cement’ its monopoly, the head of the German Cartel Office told Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

Imposing a minimum wage on the industry was a ‘regulatory sin’ and plans to only grant a sales tax exemption for postal services to companies that provide country-wide services will subdue burgeoning rivals, German antitrust regulator Bernhard Heitzer said in an interview with the newspaper.

‘We shouldn’t make the same mistakes that were made in the energy industry, where the market was liberalised without providing for the right competitive framework,’ Heitzer said.