Japan Govt May Deregulate Credit Card Delivery

Japan’s Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications is considering excluding credit cards and certain direct mail from the definition of ‘postal mail,’ a move that would open the way for the entry of private companies into such delivery operations, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported in its Saturday-morning edition, citing government sources. The ministry is in talks with officials at the Prime Minister’s Official Residence and Liberal Democratic Party members. If these provisions are incorporated into the four postal bills currently under deliberation in the Diet, delivery businesses without postal delivery licenses will become able to deliver such items starting April 2003. This is in response to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s strong call for the deregulation of postal operations. The ministry is also trying to strike a balance between Koizumi’s calls for sweeping liberalization and LDP members’ demands to limit the scope of deregulation. LDP members with vested interests in the postal service sector are also demanding certain revisions to the four postal bills to give the postal entity a higher degree of freedom in business management. Under the legislation, the Public Postal Corp., to be established in April 2003, and other licensed postal service providers will be the only ones permitted to deliver mail that falls under the definition of postal mail. After the bills clear the Diet, the ministry will compile guidelines spelling out what will fall under the definition of postal mail. Private-sector firms will be free to deliver items excluded from the guidelines. In addition to credit cards and certain direct mail, shopping vouchers issued by municipalities are likely to be excluded from the definition as well. A research panel within the ministry will finalize the guideline by the end of the year. One of the four postal bills, which Koizumi has been struggling to pass in the current Diet, defines postal mail as ‘documents sent from a specific person to convey a specific message or fact to the addressee.’ This is based on a previous ruling by the Supreme Court. Until now, the Posts Ministry had interpreted this as including credit cards, direct mail and others, and had forbidden the delivery of such mail by anyone other than post offices. But critics have pointed out that in direct mail the same content is sent to numerous recipients, and therefore it does not fall under the definition. Yamato Transport Co. (J.YMT or 9064) and other private parcel deliverers have been demanding entry into the direct mail delivery business. Koizumi last year criticized the former Posts Ministry, which had been opposed to deregulation, saying, ‘The irrational logic of the former Posts Ministry does not work for the Koizumi government.'” (Source: Dow Jones)