Tag: European Commission

Vat plan may add 5p to cost of stamps

Posted by | Jan 9, 2005 | |

Postal regulators are calling on the government to levy Vat on stamps that could add 5p to the cost of sending a first-class letter. Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show that Postcomm is in “negotiations” with the Treasury and the Department for Trade and Industry (DTI). The regulator believes the special exemption from Vat for Royal Mail stamps will have to be scrapped when the postal market is opened up to full competition next year. A reduced rate of 5% has been proposed but the European Commission may insist the full rate of 17.5% is levied, according to the papers. The exemption is not available to other mail companies hoping to enter the market so would prevent a level playing field. The EC is understood to be pressuring the government on behalf of European companies that are planning to start collecting and delivering British mail from 2006.

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Belgian Post Office ‘damages half its parcels’

Posted by | Nov 30, 2004 | |

The Belgian post office damaged almost half the parcels it transported as part of a European wide test, it emerged on Tuesday. The European Consumer Centre (ECC), which is subsidised by the European Commission, used national post offices across the EU to send 260 parcels to 13 destinations, La Derniere Heure reported. All of the parcels weighed 2.5 kilograms and were sent on 14 September. On average 13.6 percent of the packages arrived damaged at their destinations. But those handled by the Belgian Post office had a much worse time. A total of 46 percent – almost half – of the 24 parcels the post office had to process were damaged when they reached their destinations, the ECC found.

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EU urges Japan to liberalize postal services

Posted by | Nov 11, 2004 | |

The European Union on Thursday urged Japan to reform its huge postal service that the EU says has an unfair edge over private-sector companies, Jiji Press reported. In high-level financial talks between the two sides, Japan gave assurances that the nation’s postal delivery, banking and insurance businesses, once privatized, would be treated as private firms, the news agency said.
Privatization of the massive post office, which manages some 355 trln yen in savings and insurance funds, is a cherished project of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. The EU also expressed objection to Tokyo’s plans to restrict the sale of prepaid mobile phone cards, which are widely used in the EU but also used by scam artists in Japan.

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EU confirms investigating complaint against Deutsche Post

Posted by | Nov 5, 2004 | |

The European Commission confirmed that it has received an complaint against Deutsche Post World Net AG, which said yesterday it faces allegations it flouted state aid rules by allowing its Postbank unit to use Deutsche Post outlets at below market rates. The commission said the complaint was brought by EP Europost AG, which is a letter and parcel delivery company owned by TPG NV.
Amelia Torres, competition spokeswoman, said: ‘The company (EP Europost AG) complained in June. After we received that we decided to send a letter to the German government asking for more information. We are waiting for a reply.’
She added that the commission is expecting a reply from the government in the next few weeks.

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EU Commission may launch proceedings against German postal laws today

Posted by | Oct 20, 2004 | |

The European Commission is likely to launch proceedings against Germany today aimed at forcing it to open its local postal system to more competition, the Financial Times Deutschland reported citing Commission sources. The reason for the action is the German government’s refusal to give competitors of Deutsche Post AG access to the so-called ‘post-preparation services market’, the paper said. The commercial collection, sorting and franking of letters under 100 grams
is currently exclusively guaranteed to Deutsche Post under postal laws.

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