Tag: Czech Republic

The Czech IT Ministry has granted the national postal service Ceska posta (CP) the sole licence to provide basic postal services in 2005, the ministry’s press department announced Friday. CP, which lost its monopoly as of January 2004, was the only applicant for the licence for this year. Providing basic postal services means guaranteeing delivery of letters and packages of up to 100 grams across the entire country. CP expects to deliver over 600 mln letters and postcards in full-year 2004.

The rivals of postal services operator Ceska posta should have easier access to the market in line with an amendment to the law on postal services passed by the Chamber of Deputies today. The amendment aligns Czech legislation with EU directives. To get a licence for the provision of postal services, one will no longer have to prove expert skills. The amendment will now have to be seen by the Senate. On the other hand, according to the amendment, Ceska posta should have a clearer monopoly on the delivery of direct-mail, a very lucrative segment of the market. At present, the service is provided also by other entities.

The Czech anti-monopoly office UOHS said today it was against the current efforts at reintroducing state- run postal services operator Ceska posta’s monopoly on delivering direct mail. The service is also provided by Mediaservis, which has less than a 10 per cent share on the Czech market.
“Remonopolisation means a restriction of the emerging competitive environment and runs counter to the main objectives of competition protection,” UOHS chairman Josef Bednar told CTK. He added Ceska posta is a near-monopoly provider of direct mail, and that competition should secure prices and quality acceptable for consumers. “Customers thus will not pay more than necessary for this service,” Bednar said.

Czech state-run postal services operator Ceska posta should be the exclusive provider of direct mailing again, daily Mlada fronta Dnes wrote on Saturday.
An amendment to the law on postal service is now waiting for its final debate in the Chamber of Deputies. If the bill is approved, Ceska posta would get rid of its main competitor Mediaservis, which has roughly a 10 per cent market share at present. The European Union has for several years regarded the Czech market for direct mailing as open to all companies. Ceska posta says, according to the daily, that the canceling of the monopoly in this segment has never been included in any law.