| Author (Person) | Bower, Helen, Thomson, Ian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Publisher | ProQuest Information and Learning | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series Title | In Focus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series Details | August 2002 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Publication Date | 03/08/2002 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Content Type | News, Overview, Topic Guide | In Focus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The European Union took another step towards a complete EU internal market in May 2002 when the Council of the European Union formally adopted a new Directive that will push forward the implementation of the internal market in the postal services sector [IP/02/671]. After two years of negotiations, the Directive [Directive/2002/39/EC] requires Member States to open up significant sections of the market to competition from 2003 and 2006 and defines further steps to be taken later towards the completion of the internal market for postal services. Speaking about the adoption of the Directive, Fits Bolkestein, the European Commissioner responsible for the internal market said:
Background The postal sector is of major economic and social importance in the European Union. A recent United Kingdom: House of Lords: Select Committee on the European Union report suggests that EU postal services deal with approximately 135 billion items a year. This generates a turnover of approximately EUR 80 billion or about 1.4% of the EU's GDP. About two-thirds of the turnover is generated by mail services, including the reserved area. The reserved area is a set of mechanisms created to ensure that a universal postal service is provided at a standard cost to all geographical parts of a country and to all users. The remaining one third of turnover is generated by parcels and express services. As part of the overall programme to create a Single Market throughout the European Union, and encourage the liberalisation of various industrial sectors, the European Commission launched a range of initiatives during the 1990s to advance the development of the single market for postal services, by creating further competitive mechanisms. A Green Paper issued in 1992 (COM (1991)476 final (11.6.92) [only the Executive Summary (MEMO/92/34) is available on the Internet] started a period of consultation. The European Commission's aim is to implement the Single Market for postal services, by opening up the sector to competition in a gradual and controlled way, within a regulatory framework which assures a universal service. The improvement of the quality of service, in particular in terms of delivery time and affordable tariffs are fundamental aspects of this policy. It is felt that greater competition in the sector will achieve that objective, but that safeguards are needed to protect the concept of the universal service. Following a consultation period in the early 1990s a Council Resolution [PDF] was adopted in 1994 on the development of Community postal services (OJ C48, 16.2.94, p3-4). This was followed by the adoption of Directive 97/67/EC by the European Parliament and the Council on 15 December 1997. The Directive sets out common rules for the development of the internal market of Community postal services and the improvement of quality of service, with a date of implementation of February 1999 (OJ L15, 21.1.98, p14-25). The 1997 Directive:
In 1997 the European Commission also issued a notice on the application of the competition rules to the postal sector and on the assessment of certain state measures relating to postal services (SEC(97) 2289) The Notice was adopted by the Commission on 17 December 1997, following public consultation. Further background information on the subject can be found in:
The second Postal Directive proposal The 1997 Directive was recognised as a first step towards the process of a gradual and controlled opening of the postal sector to competition. The European Commission was expected to bring forward further proposals in 1998 following the analysis of the results of detailed research studies as required by the 1997 Directive. In the event the new proposals were considerably delayed both by the divisions of opinion amongst stakeholders on the issue of liberalisation and the turmoil in the European Commission in 1999. All stakeholders are said to be in favour of liberalisation: the divisions come in the speed and extent of the reforms. In the broadest of terms stakeholders in favour of further liberalisation tend to include the commercial companies who provide mail and delivery services, and commercial organisations who intensively use the postal service such as magazine publishers and mail order and direct sales' operators. More suspicious of the proposals for liberalisation include consumer groups, trade unions representing workers in the existing national post office organisations and the majority of existing public national post office organisations. Member State governments tend to differ in opinion over the liberalisation of the postal sector. France is considered to be one of the countries most suspicious of a radical and rapid liberalisation, while Sweden, where postal sector market liberalisation has already been achieved, leads the governments of Germany, Austria, The Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium and Finland as the proponents of liberalisation. It was only in May 2000, following an agreement by the EU Member States at the European Council in Lisbon, March 2000 to encourage further liberalisation measures that the European Commission adopted a proposal [COM(2000)319] for a Directive to amend the existing 97/67 EC Directive. The proposal sought to further open up to competition the European market for postal services by:
The European Commission's Directorate General for the Internal Market provides much useful background information on the proposal on its Proposed evolution of the regulatory framework pages on the web. Also of interest is the Press Release (IP/00/541) issued when the European Commission adopted by the proposal in May 2000. The proposal was subject to the co-decision procedure. The full legislative history of the proposal can be found using the following services: On the 13 December 2000 the European Parliament held its first reading debate on the European Commission proposals based upon a report from rapporteur Merkus Ferber, MEP. Despite Mr Ferber himself being a strong proponent of postal liberalisation, and a speech by European Commissioner Frits Bolkestein arguing strongly for the proposals, there was considerable opposition from MEPs. The further opening up of the postal market in the Community should, they said, be much more gradual and controlled than the European Commission was proposing. A summary of the debate is available. European Commission Bolkestein expressed his disappointment that the European Parliament voted to reduce drastically the share of the postal market to be opened up to competition and to delay the introduction of more competition by two years. On the 22 December 2000 the Telecommunications Council (PRES/00/495) held a debate on the proposal but failed to reach a Political Agreement, reflecting the disagreement amongst Member States. Amended proposal on opening up the EU's postal services As neither the European Parliament nor the Council were content with the initial proposal the European Commission put forward an amended proposal [COM(2001)109] in March 2001. The European Commission's amended proposal accepted 10 of the 47 amendments adopted by the European Parliament at its first reading in December 2000. These included those amendments which:
However, the European Commission did not take into account a further 36 amendments proposed by the European Parliament. These mainly concerned the advantages of competition and extent of reservable area; the timetable for further steps; the universal service; social and employment issues; special services; access; the Compensation Fund and the Regulator's tasks. Belgian Presidency seeks to reopen the debate In October 2001, the Belgian Presidency sought to reopen the debate on the liberalisation of the EU's postal sector by presenting a compromise proposal that addressed the three most controversial issues:
The Belgian government proposed that the weight reserved for the universal service provider should be limited to 100 grams by 1 January 2003 and then to 50 grams by 2006 and that the outgoing cross-border mail not be reserved for the universal service provider. With regard to the date for full liberalisation the Belgian Presidency suggested that the European Commission should produce a study in 2006 on the impact of full liberalisation in 2009 on the universal service in each Member State. Depending on the outcome the European Commission should then propose liberalisation beyond 2009 or foresee an additional step for gradual liberalisation. If there are no incidences, no further step would be necessary to achieve an internal market for the postal services in 2009. At the Telecommunications Council on 15-16 October 2001, ministers from the EU Member States reached a political agreement on further postal liberalisation based on the three elements of the Belgian Presidency's proposal. The agreement was followed by the adoption of a common position by qualified majority on 6 December 2001 with the Netherlands delegation voting against the proposal and the Finnish delegation abstaining. The amendments agreed by the Council mean that the common position was much closer to that of the Parliament's at its first reading in December 2000, paving the way for a final agreement. 2nd reading of the European Parliament In February 2002, the European Parliament's Committee on Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism, the committee responsible for the proposal, adopted the report by Markus Ferber approving the Council's common position subject to just three amendments. It called for a return to the initial definition (in Directive 97/67/EC) of "items of domestic correspondence' on the grounds that the reference to "standard mail services" was no longer necessary. It also wanted the European Commission to report to Parliament and Council every two years on the application of the directive, providing information about developments in the sector and quality of service. At its plenary session from11-13 March 2002, the European Parliament approved the Council's common position at its second reading but called on the European Commission to regularly submit reports to those institutions on the application of this Directive. The Parliament suggested that every two years, beginning no later than 31 December 2004, the European Commission should submit this report, including the appropriate information about developments in the sector, particularly concerning economic, social, employment and technological aspects, as well as about quality of service. On 29 April 2002 the European Commission accepted all three of the amendments proposed by the European Parliament following the second reading of the proposal and the Council formally adopted the Directive on 7 May 2002. The European Parliament and the Council officially signed the Directive on 10 June 2002. The European Union is now set to begin the liberalisation of its postal sector however the EU institutions are likely to remain under intense pressure from national postal operators and consumers who continue to believe that the EU should push ahead with full liberalisation of the market before 2009. Further information within European Sources Online:
Further information can be seen in these external links:
Further and subsequent information on the subject of this In Focus can be found by an 'Advanced Search' in European Sources Online by inserting 'postal liberalisation' in the keyword field. Compiled by Ian Thomson, Executive Editor, European Sources Online, January 2001 The European Union took another step towards a complete EU internal market in May 2002 when the Council of the European Union formally adopted a new Directive that will push forward the implementation of the internal market in the postal services sector. |
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