14 November 2013
ANCOM communicated to Bucharest-based company CRX SUPORT CURIER EXPRES S.R.L. the enforcement of a RON 10,000 fine for the non-observance of the obligations under the general authorisation regime for the provision of postal services as far as the Cash on delivery service is concerned.
This postal service provider was sanctioned for failing to remit to the sender the counter-value of the amounts cashed in for the postal items sent via the Cash on delivery service. Cash on delivery is the postal service dealing with registered postal items, consisting of the addressee’s payment to the sender of the counter-value of the good subject to the registered postal item by means of the postal network. Therefore, when the postal item is deposited, the provider has the obligation to cash in the counter-value of the good declared by the sender and subsequently remit it to the sender within the agreed timeframe.
CRX Suport Curier Expres S.R.L. is not at the first offence, being previously sanctioned with a warning for the same deed.
On the same control action, the ANCOM specialised personnel found that the provider did not establish in the general conditions on the provision of postal services the timeframes for returning the counter-value of the postal item subject to the Cash on delivery service, respectively the timeframes for transmitting to the senders the postal proofs of delivery in the case of the postal items subject to the Advice of delivery service. ANCOM decided to sanction these deeds with a warning and to impose on the provider the obligation to amend and complete the general conditions on the provision of postal services within 30 days from the communication of the statement-of-facts so that these observe the legal provisions.
“The authorisation as a postal service provider encompasses a series of obligations: the provider must establish the quality requirements of the offered postal services, respectively the delivery times, the timeframes for returning the counter-value of the amounts cashed in for the Cash on delivery postal itemsor the timeframes for transmittingthe postal proofs of deliveryto the senders. All these must be specified in the general conditions on the provision of postal services, which have the same legal regime as the contract concluded between the providers and the users”, the Executive Director of the ANCOM Monitoring and Control Executive Division, Mr. Cristin POPA, emphasised.
The postal service provider has the obligation to take over the postal item subject to the Cash on delivery service only if the sender indicates correctly and completely all his/her identification information. Furthermore, the postal service providers must set the conditions for accepting the postal items, respectively the rules which the postal item needs to observe in view of the conclusion or execution of the contract on the provision of the postal services. In the case of the Cash on delivery service, these conditions may concern, among others, the maximum limit of the amount paid for on delivery.
During this year, for the non-observance of the obligations under the General authorisation regime for the provision of postal services, ANCOM also sanctioned Total Post Mail Services, with a fine of RON 5,000, whereas the Romanian Post National Company cumulated three fines of RON 5,000 each.