New mail plan in the post

Date: 06/01/2000

By Peter Chapman

SINGLE Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein is on track to deliver new proposals to liberalise the postal sector in the spring, according to industry sources.

But private firms complain that a raft of member states are failing to abide by the existing EU rules aimed at exposing much of the sector to competition.

Industry insiders say they are confident that the Dutch post policy chief will unveil his proposals for further market-opening soon following discussions within the institution early this year.

Bolkestein is expected to call for the full liberalisation of cross-border and direct or 'junk' mail from 2003, and to propose reducing the weight limits on mail that member states can 'reserve' for their domestic post operators from 350 to 50 grammes.

But the European Express Organisation, a lobby group which represents private courier companies, says firms are still waiting for the Commission to act on formal complaints against Greece, Italy and Spain for their failure to comply with the terms of the 1997 Union legislation opening parts of the market to competition.

EU affairs spokesman Rohan Malatra claimed Italy and Spain had breached the rules by making their national legislation tougher on private firms after supposedly implementing the Union directive. "In Spain, they actually re-monopolised the cross-border mail sector, which was de facto liberal before they implemented the directive," he said. "In Italy, the government awarded licences to some operators in the reserved areas, but then when they implemented the directive they actually revoked these licences."

Meanwhile, Greece stands accused of running a "restrictive" licensing system which forces private firms to hand over 0.5% of their turnover to obtain permission to operate in the country.

The Greek government argues that this is necessary to pay for the provision of 'universal' post services to remote regions, but the industry claims there is no need for such charges while the Greek postal service still enjoys a monopoly. "Our view is there should be a reserved area or a fund but not both," said Malatra.

The legal challenges come as the industry awaits the Commission's verdict on the activities of Germany's Deutsche Post. Anti-trust officials are investigating the dominant German operator after private firms claimed it funded a raft of acquisitions using cash generated as a result of its monopoly of the German letters market.

Single Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein is on track to deliver new proposals to liberalise the postal sector in the spring of 2000, according to industry sources.