Japan to Pass Postal Deregulation Bills
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's cabinet and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) have basically agreed on amendments to bills for postal services deregulation.
According to Kyodo News, Taro Aso, chairman of the Policy Research Council of the LDP, informed senior LDP officials Tuesday morning about the basic agreement.
The agreement was reached on Monday after Koizumi compromised, agreeing to changes in one of the four bills which concerns the establishment of a public corporation next year to take over state- run postal services.
The cabinet-LDP agreement makes it almost certain that the four- bill set, a key part of Koizumi's reform policy, is likely to pass the parliament by the July 31 end of its current Diet session.
According to the basic agreement, the bill on the proposed establishment of a new public corporation will be amended to reflect some of the LDP's demands.
The changes include that the public corporation will be allowed to invest in businesses closely related to mail service in the future, and that a certain preferential treatment will be given to the corporation on its obligation to the payment to the government.
Copyright 2002 XINHUA NEWS AGENCY.
LDP conditionally approves postal bills
Yomiuri Shimbun 3.7.02
The Liberal Democratic Party approved Tuesday four bills related to a plan to allow the private sector to join the mail-delivery business under several conditions and agreed to pass them during the current Diet session.
The LDP's General Council held a meeting to discuss the bills. It decided that a bill on the definition of letters and postcards could not be revised and a bill on a postal service public corporation would be amended before it is passed.
The amendments include a clause allowing the envisaged public corporation to take stakes in subsidiaries to make its operation more efficient.
At a prior meeting of the party's Public Management Division, the division decided to make revisions in the bill to establish a public corporation. They were:
–The public corporation will be allowed to take stakes in its subsidiaries.
–The bill will clearly stipulate that there will be a sufficient number of post offices to cover the nation after the establishment of the public corporation.
–The public corporation will contribute part of its reserve fund to state coffers instead of paying money equivalent to corporate taxes paid by a similarly sized company, as stipulated in the bill. This seeks to ensure that contributions by the pubic corporation will not undermine the institution's operation.
The division also decided that the public management minister will clearly state in a Diet interpellation that direct mail is defined as confidential mail in the relevant bill.
It also decided to require private companies to set up the same number of post offices as those of the public corporation to enter the postal delivery business, and to request the private firms to continue offering free services for the disabled.
LDP Policy Research Council Chairman Taro Aso submitted a document on the conditions to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi during their meeting at the Prime Minister's Office Tuesday evening.
However, Koizumi was opposed to conditions that the public corporation's management structure would not be reviewed for four years after its establishment and that the approval of the ruling camp would have to be obtained before government and ministry ordinances on conditions to allow private companies to enter the business will be decided.
LDP executives planned to settle the issue by characterizing the conditions as "requests from the General Council," at a meeting to discuss the matter Wednesday.
