The Decision no.88/2004 of the President of the National Regulatory Authority for Communications (ANRC) on the designation of the Universal Service Provider in the field of postal services, on grounds of which the National Company Posta Româna (CNPR) was designated as universal service provider for 5 years, was published in the Romanian Official Journal, Part I, no.355 as of April 22, 2004. According to the European regulations in this field, CNPR is given the responsibility to ensure access for all the Romanian users to a set of essential services, at a certain level of quality and price conditions, thus allowing each user to benefit from these services, irrespective of his geographic location or level of incomes.
CNPR has the obligation to provide the following postal services:
a) the clearance, sorting, transport and delivery of domestic and cross-border postal items, up to 2 kg;
b) clearance, sorting, transport and delivery of postal packages, domestic or cross-border, up to 10 kg;
c) the distribution of postal packages up to 20 kg, sent from outside Romania to an address located in Romania;
d) the registered postal items service, either domestic or cross-border;
e) the service for insured items, either domestic or cross-border.
The tariffs charged by CNPR for the provision of these services shall be accessible, transparent, non-discriminatory and cost-oriented. Tariffs will be the same on the entire territory of Romania and can be changed only upon ANRC approval. Also, CNPR will establish, upon ANRC approval, a framework-contract for the provision of these services, that will be evaluated from a technical point of view as well as where consumer protection is concerned.
In its capacity as a universal service provider, CNPR also has the obligation to comply with certain parameters as regards the coverage of the Romanian territory by its distribution and clearance network. For example, CNPR shall ensure, until December 31, 2005, the installation of at least one mail box or any other type of permanent access point, as well as at least one contact point in each location (including villages) on the Romanian territory. Also CNPR has the obligation to gradually increase the number of mail boxes, so that until January 1, 2007, there will be at least one mail box for every 3,000 inhabitants in the rural areas, at least one mail box for every 5,000 inhabitants in the urban areas, and at least one mail box for every 10,000 inhabitants in Bucharest. According to the “Communications Outlook”, a study conducted by ANRC during August – October, 2003, on the Romanian territory there are 11733 mail boxes and the best coverage as regards the number of inhabitants is recorded in Giurgiu county (over 1 mail box per one thousand inhabitants), Harghita and Vâlcea (0.97 per one thousand inhabitants).
Also in its capacity as a universal service provider and according to the latest European directives regulating this sector (Directive 2002/39/EC), CNPR is granted the exclusive right to provide services of clearance, sorting, transport and delivery, distribution of postal items, sent from outside Romania to an address located in Romania for items of correspondence up to 100 g and with a value less than ROL 12,000. As a consequence, for the postal items up to 100 g, the other postal services providers shall charge tariffs equal or higher than ROL 12,000. Additionally, CNPR has the right to install, maintain, replace or move, free of charge, mail boxes on buildings under public property, including on communication and access ways, and to act in international affairs conclude operational agreements in its capacity of universal service provider.
The decision on the designation of CNPR as universal service provider enters into force three days after it is published, except for the provisions regarding the reserved rights, which enter into force after 30 days, and is available for consultation on the ANRC website.