25 September 2013
The Romanian National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) has published on its website the notice on the intention to designate the universal service provider in the postal sector. Thus, any postal provider authorised to provide the services which fall within the scope of universal service may be designated as a universal service provider by ANCOM, upon request or ex officio, if there are no requests therefor.
Access to the universal service is every citizen’s right to benefit from the uninterrupted provision of basic postal services, at affordable prices for all users and at a certain quality level, in any location on the territory of Romania.
In order to ensure this right to all of Romania’s inhabitants, the Authority will designate one or several universal service providers to provide one or several services within the scope of universal service, accross the country, from 1 January 2014 through 31 December 2018.
The postal providers interested in becoming universal service providers must submit a designation request to ANCOM until 25 October 2013, 14.00 hours. The designation request will comprise the requester’s identification information and the services within the scope of universal service for which the designation is requested.
Additional documents and information are to be attached to the request for the designation as a universal service provider, such as the certificate issued by the Trade Register Office on the non-existence of a procedure of either voluntary or judicial disolution or of a dissolution following the enforcement of the insolvency procedures, copies of the annual financial statements for the last 3 years or for the entire period elapsed from the setting up, if such period is shorter than 3 years, a financial offer wherein the requester will detail the financial estimate of the net cost corresponding to the designation period, as well as a description of the quality requirements which the requester guarantees to meet and of the measures necessary to satisfy these requirements. Furthermore, the designation request will include a list displaying the locations of all the access and contact points of the postal network operated by the requester and by other postal providers with which the requester has concluded agreements therefor. The full list of necessary documents is provided for in the ANCOM President’s Decision no.541/2013 on the conditions and procedure for the designation of the universal service providers in the postal field.
In designating the winner, the evaluation commission will take into consideration the coverage of the national territory, including the density of the access and contact points of the postal networks operated by the requesters or by other postal service providers with which they have concluded contracts therefor, the technical, economic and financial capacity of the requesters, the capacity of ensuring countrywide even tariff level for the services within the scope of universal service and the net cost of providing the postal services within the scope of universal service for which the designation was requested.
The net cost will be compensated only at the request of the universal service provider and the compensation will be financed from a universal service fund administered by ANCOM. In the event the collected amount is insufficient, the difference between the net cost to be compensated and the collected amount will be covered from public funds.The net cost of the universal service provision represents the losses registered by the designated provider upon fulfilling the universal service obligations.
At present, the right of access to the universal service is ensured across the country by the Romanian Post National Company S.A. (CNPR), which holds the capacity as a universal service provider until 31 December 2013, according to the Decision of the president of the National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications no.293/2009 designating the universal service provider in the postal field, with the subsequent amendments and completions.
Moreover, ANCOM updated the List of localities characterised by exceptional geographical conditions where the currently designated universal service provider has certain reduced obligations with regard to ensuring access to the postal services within the scope of universal service. The special status of these localities is given by the precarious infrastructure, the geographical position (e.g. hard accessible mountainous areas), as well as by the small number of inhabitants.