Tag: Royal Mail

Postal services: Commission welcomes the adoption of the EU Postal Directive

Posted by | Jan 31, 2008 | |

The European Parliament adopted the new Postal Directive last Thursday 31st January, giving its final political approval to EU postal reform. The vote confirms the broad political consensus on the way forward for opening EU postal markets to full competition. The Commission will assist Member States in implementing the new Directive and will take an active role in monitoring closely market developments to make sure that EU citizens and businesses obtain the benefits from high quality postal services foreseen by the Directive.
The Commission had adopted its proposal only 15 month ago. The text voted today by the European Parliament reflects the overall political agreement between the institutions and maintains the key elements of the Commission’s initial proposal, in particular: the accomplishment of the internal market of Community postal services via the abolition of the reserved area in all Member States; the confirmation of the scope and standard of universal service; reinforcement of consumers’ rights and upgrading of the role of national regulatory authorities; the offering of a list of measures Member States may take to safeguard and finance, where necessary, the universal service.

The final date for achieving full market opening is 31 December 2010, with the possibility for some Member States to postpone full market opening by two more years as a maximum and the inclusion of a temporary reciprocity clause applying to those Member States that make use of the latter transitional period. The new Directive is the final step in a long reform process that has already seen large areas of EU postal markets opened to competition, with very positive results.

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Postal services liberalisation: MEPs back market opening by 2011

Posted by | Jan 31, 2008 | |

The European Parliament confirms that remaining postal service monopolies should expire by 2011 – or 2013 for some Member States. In a second reading deal with Council, the European Parliament sticks to the compromise already endorsed by the Council on the opening up of EU postal services to competition.

In its common position, the Council had incorporated all major elements of the European Parliament’s position at first reading. The European Parliament approved the common position without amendments.

Among the key points was the date for market opening: by 2011, two years later than the Commission had proposed, with the possibility for Member States which joined the EU after 2004 or with a difficult topography, such as Greece to postpone market opening by a further two years to 2013. The following Member States may postpone implementation until the end of 2012: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. For Luxembourg, the Council agreed with the European Parliament first-reading position which said that Member States that acceded to the EU after the entry into force of Directive 2002/39/EC or Member States with a small population and limited geographical size could postpone to 2013.

MEPs also agree with Council on the principle of reciprocity: in order to avoid market distortion and unfair competition, those Member States having opened their markets should be able to refuse authorisation to operators still protected by a national monopoly in another Member State.

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EU to vote on mail monopolies

Posted by | Jan 30, 2008 | |

The European Parliament is expected to approve a plan today to dismantle remaining national monopolies for postal delivery by 2011, allowing cross-border competition in a sector that has until now been closely guarded by national operators.
A group of nine new EU member states, Greece and Luxembourg will get the option of an additional two-year grace period to prepare for a full opening of the delivery of letters under 50 grams (1.75 ounces) – the last category where national postal companies face no rivals – under the plan to be voted on by European Union lawmakers.
A universal public service ensuring every European – not just in big cities but also in remote areas – gets at least one delivery and collection a day, five days a week, even after rival companies move into the market, will be guaranteed and can be subsidized by governments if it is loss-making.
The issue of outside competition for domestic mail-carriers is a heated one in many EU countries. While parcel and package deliveries have already been liberalized across the 27-nation bloc, national governments may still reserve the market for delivering letters under 50
The postal reform – first considered more than 15 years ago – is part of a drive to liberalize the EU services market. The plan could lead to job losses in the 88 billion euro sector that employs more than 5 million people.
Full liberalization of the sector should lead to more reliable and better-quality mail deliveries, according to EU officials.
Many countries have been slow to open up their postal market to competition. Only Sweden, Britain, Finland have scrapped all legal monopolies. Germany has also allowed cross-border competition, but the government has set a minimum wage for postal workers.
Ninety percent of European mail is sent by businesses, and this is where most new entrants are likely to target new, lower-priced services – ignoring unprofitable consumer services in remote or rural areas.

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The International Organization for Standardization to work hand in hand with the UPU

Posted by | Jan 30, 2008 | |

Alan Bryden, Secretary General of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and Edouard Dayan, Director General of the Universal Postal Union, concluded a cooperation agreement today aimed at strengthening the exchange of information for finalizing standards of mutual interest to the two organizations.

Closer cooperation in standardization work has become necessary in an increasingly specialized technological environment. Furthermore, liberalization and postal sector developments have led to the development of new standards to meet the needs of the sector and its customers for enhanced quality of service.

As postal operators diversify their activities, incorporate e-commerce into their parcel and logistics services and develop their financial services, they need to operate in a standardized environment.

As Edouard Dayan pointed out, “The UPU manages a three-dimensional network: physical, electronic and financial. We have already developed many standards for the processing of physical mail. We now need to focus on standards for electronic and financial services. The cooperation agreement with the ISO is intended to do just that.”

As a standards organization, the UPU has already developed nearly a hundred technical standards for the postal sector. The agreement will enable the UPU to better position itself on the world stage and help it to prepare and better disseminate postal standards, particularly for financial and electronic services, that are recognized internationally, not only by postal experts but also by standards experts in other activity sectors.

One feature of the agreement is the creation of a contact committee of six officials responsible for implementing the provisions of the agreement. Thus, the ISO and the UPU will each be able to incorporate in its own standards references to the other organization’s standards.

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