The National Regulatory Authority for Communications (ANRC) launched for public consultation the draft Decision on the Conditions and Procedure for the Designation of the Universal Service Provider in the Field of Postal Services.
ANRC designates, upon request or ex – officio, a postal services provider as universal service provider. In this respect can be designated only the companies that have notified ANRC about their intention to provide postal services within the scope of the universal service.
The universal postal service represents a package of services that every person can benefit from, anywhere in Romania, at certain quality standards and at affordable prices. Among the postal services within the scope of the universal service, there are: the clearance, sorting, transport and delivery of postal items, domestic or cross-border, up to 2 kilograms and of postal packages up to 10 kilograms, the distribution of postal packages up to 20 kilograms, sent from outside Romania to an address located in Romania, the services for registered or insured items, domestic or cross-border, as well as any other postal services, if they meet a social and economic need of the users, which cannot be ensured in a satisfactory manner under the conditions of a competitive market.
The companies that intend to become universal service providers may submit a request to ANRC, which is to be analysed and solved by an evaluation commission established by the ANRC President. The authority may designate ex – officio a universal service provider, if did not received a request for designation within a specified term, if none of the persons that submitted a request was designated as universal service provider or if there are not universal service providers designated for all the services within the scope of the universal service or for the entire territory of Romania. The designation is made by decision of the ANRC President, based on the proposals of the evaluation commission, which is to be submitted to the public consultation procedure.
According to the draft decision, the designated providers have the obligation to ensure at least one clearance at each access point and at least one delivery at the address of each natural person or at the office of any legal person, every working day, not less than 5 days a week, to publish information on the characteristics of the services he was designated for, as well as to submit to ANRC for approval and to publish the tariffs charged for these services.
The draft is available for the public on ANRC Internet page, until October 25, 2003. Comments may be sent by mail to the ANRC headquarters on 14 Libertatii Blvd., sector 5, Bucharest or may be submitted directly at the ANRC registration desk or at the territorial office of the county the interested person lives in. Comments may also be sent by fax at number: +40 21 307 54 02 or by e-mail at the address consultare@anrc.ro.