FedEx says express delivery dispute with China Post resolved

AFX ASIAFOCUS 21st October 2001
FEDEX SAYS EXPRESS DELIVERY DISPUTE WITH CHINA POST RESOLVED

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – The dispute over international mail delivery rights between state-run China Post on the one side and express delivery companies including Federal Express Corp, United Parcel Service Inc and DHL and their domestic agents on the other, has been resolved, David Cunningham, president FedEx’s Asia Pacific division told AFX-ASIA. FedEx held talks with China’s trade minister Shi Guangsheng on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Shanghai on Friday, Cunningham said. “There has been tremendous progress. MOFTEC (Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation) has been a very strong proponent of dealing with the China Post issue and the issues we were having earlier this year have largely been resolved. “There have been no further impacts to our business since the summer and we can continue our business as we have always run it.” A row broke out between the two sides late last year when China Post, which has its own express mail service EMS, claimed that it had exclusive rights to mail delivery and that foreign express delivery companies and their local agents were breaking the law and operating illegally. The regional branches of several offices of domestic agents of foreign companies were raided by local China Post officials, according to company officials and media reports. China Post claimed that the 1986 China Post Law gave state post offices exclusive rights to mail delivery, and that express mail companies and their agents were violating this law. But the express deliverers claimed that a 1995 State Council ordinance, which allows international freight forwards to transport goods and business documents apart from private mail, gave them the right to make express deliveries. Chen Huai, an economist with the State Council’s Development Research Centre policy think-tank was quoted in the Business Weekly as saying that resolving the dispute could involve legislation to change the monopoly status of China Post. FedEx’s Cunningham said he could not comment specifically whether new legislation would have to be passed to clarify the legal aspects of the dispute, but said: “The legal resolution will work its way through the various systems.” No one from MOFTEC was available to comment. nma/tr