Today, 27 November 2008, ANC has launched for public consultation a draft decision for the amendment and completion of the ANRC President’s Decision no.88/2004 on the designation of the Universal Service providers in the field of postal services and a draft decision regarding the reporting of statistical data by the postal service providers.
The amendments and completions proposed in the first draft decision propose that the direct mail be included in the category of postal services within the scope of Universal Service which the designated provider has the obligation to provide throughout Romania.
Despite ANC’s announcement on the intention to designate a Universal Service provider for direct mail services, no provider expressed availability in this regard. Therefore, ANC decided to designate CNPR ex officio, as a provider of direct mail services, due to this provider’s network coverage, which is the most extensive at the national level. Hence, this provider would be in the position to fulfil the legal requirements regarding the provision of services within the scope of Universal Service and to ensure the exercise of the users’ right of access to Universal Service. Moreover, CNPR has more than 4 years of experience in the provision of postal services within the scope of Universal Service. Thus, CNPR will have the obligation to provide, throughout Romania, by 25 April 2009, all the postal services within the scope of Universal Service for which it has already been designated, as well as the direct mail service.
The extension of the scope of Universal Service to include direct mail services and the designation of CNPR as a Universal Service provider does not grant CNPR the exclusive right to provide these services, allowing other postal service providers to compete on this market segment. In its capacity as a Universal Service provider, CNPR will have the obligation to deliver direct mail items throughout the country, at a level tariff, which will be cost-oriented and approved by ANC.
In 2007, more than 63 million direct mail items were processed by the 8 active providers on this market segment. Direct mail items registered a 44% increase compared to 2006, representing approximately 20% of the total letter post items.
As well, in the draft decision launched for consultation, ANC proposes to extend, by 25 April 2009, the term by which CNPR holds the exclusive right to provide certain postal services dealing with items of correspondence (irrespective of their Express/regular character) weighing less than 50 g and with a tariff below RON 1.2. This proposal is in line with the European Parliament’s decision on extending the possibility to reserve certain categories of postal services to the Universal Service provider, until 13 December 2012, for Romania, and aims at financing the net cost generated by the provision of services within the scope of Universal Service.
The second draft decision aims to review and harmonise the manner of reporting statistical data by the postal services providers with the new classification of postal services. Since the scope of the Universal Service has been broadened by the inclusion of the direct mail service and the services outside its scope (i.e. “Payment upon reception”, “Change of destination”, “Special delivery”, “Acknowledgement of receipt” and Express) have been strictly delineated, a new decision is needed in order to establish the postal service providers’ obligation to report statistical data on the updated range of postal services.
The draft decisions are available for consultation on the ANC website. The interested persons are invited to send their comments and suggestions to the ANC headquarters (2 Delea Noua Street, sector 3, Bucharest) or directly to the ANC registration office, as well as to its territorial branches, no later than 08.12.2008. Comments may be sent, as well, by fax, to +40 372 845 402 or by e-mail to consultare@anrcti.ro.