Tag: Europe

Liberalisation of the postal sector will mark the end of an era across the EU. Making the transition to open markets will prove to be a bloody process for some – at stake are jobs, time-honoured principles such as universal service provision and cherished assets, including post offices, letter-boxes and sorting offices.

But countries such as Sweden, which liberalised in the early 1990s, warn that resistance is futile. Traditional postal service provision is being stretched by the advent of digital technology and e-commerce. The sector, says dominant postal operator Posten AG, can choose to adapt of its own volition or sink.

“Physical post will diminish if postal services don’t adapt and it will be difficult to uphold the universal service obligation in the end,” says Susanne Flyckt, chief officer for regulatory affairs at Posten, formerly a state-backed monopoly.

Sweden is a flag-bearer for the liberalisation cause. A report compiled this year by Sweden’s postal regulator shows that universal service provision, or standards guaranteeing non-discriminatory access to postal services, has not suffered as a result of market opening. “The previously high service- quality of Posten has, as a result of the liberalisation and the growing competition, even improved in terms of quality and efficiency,” says the report.

According to Flyckt, any jobs lost at Posten since market-opening have been “down to technological developments and changes in customer behaviour”. The regulatory report, published in March, shows that the introduction of new techniques, including highly automated sorting centres and the reorganisation of the post office network, in any case, predated liberalisation.