WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/S/W/26 
17 January 2005 
 (05-0187) 
Council for Trade in Services  
Special Session Original:   English 
 
 
 
COMMUNICATION FROM THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
AND THEIR MEMBER STATES 
 
Postal/Courier:  Proposal for a Reference Paper  
 
  The following communication, dated 13 January  2005, from the delegation of the European 
Communities and their Member States is being circul ated to the Members of the Council for Trade in 
Services. 
_______________ 
 
 
I. INTRODUCTION 
1. This communication is a complement to the sectoral proposal S/CSS/W/61 of the European 
Communities and their Member States on the postal and courier sector, which notably contemplated 
the possibility of a reference paper for postal and c ourier services.  The EC suggests that the following 
reference paper proposal on postal and courier servic es could be a model to be further discussed with 
Members with a view to insert a final version of the paper in the additional commitments of Members willing to take specific commitments in the postal and courier services sector.  
2. The present proposal does not deal with two important issues, which should be discussed 
further, namely :  
(a) relations between WTO and UPU rules, which the EC considers should not be 
covered by the reference paper but shou ld be further discussed among Members;  
(b) a list of examples of the anti-competitive practices mentioned in section 1 of the 
following proposal, as well as a list of practices which should not be considered as anti-competitive per se , which the EC considers should in principle be added to the 
reference paper at some stage.  
II. PROPOSAL FOR A REFERENCE PAPER ON THE POSTAL AND COURIER 
SECTOR 
Scope
 
 
The following are definitions and principles on the regulatory framework for all postal and 
courier services.  
Definitions  
 
An "individual licence"  is an authorisation, granted to an individual supplier by a regulatory 
authority, which is required before supplying a given service. TN/S/W/26 
Page 2  
 
 Universal service
 is the permanent provision of a postal service of specified quality at all 
points in the territory of a Member at affordable prices for all users.  
1. Prevention of anti-competitive practices in the postal and courier sector 
Appropriate measures will be maintained or  introduced for the purpose of preventing 
suppliers who, alone or together, ha ve the ability to affect materially the terms of participation (having 
regard to price and supply) in the relevant market  for postal and courier services as a result of use of 
their position in the market, from engaging in  or continuing anti-competitive practices. 
2. Universal service 
Any Member has the right to define the ki nd of universal service obligation it wishes to 
maintain. Such obligations will not be regarded  as anti-competitive per se, provided they are 
administered in a transparent, non-discriminator y and competitively neutral manner and are not more 
burdensome than necessary for the kind of universal service defined by the Member. 
3. Individual licences 
An individual licence may only be required fo r services which are within the scope of the 
universal service.  
Where an individual licence is required, the following will be made publicly available: 
(a) all the licensing criteria and the period of time normally required to reach a decision 
concerning an application for a licence;  and 
(b) the terms and conditions of  individual licences. 
The reasons for the denial of an individual licence will be made known to the applicant upon 
request and an appeal procedure through an indepe ndent body will be estab lished at the Member's 
level.  Such a procedure will be transparent, non-discriminatory, and based on objective criteria.  
4. Independence of the regulatory body 
The regulatory body is legally separate from, and not accountable to, any supplier of postal 
and courier services. The decisions of and the pr ocedures used by the regulatory body will be 
impartial with respect to all market participants. 
III. EXPLANATORY NOTES  
A. WHAT IS A REFERENCE PAPER ?  
3. In addition to the general commitments impo sed by GATS on all the services sectors it 
covers, Members can take "specific" commitment s in the sectors of their choice. The specific 
commitments are described in the "schedule of commitments" of each Member and divided into market access (Article XVI of GATS), nationa l treatment (Article XVII), and "additional 
commitments" (Article XVIII).  
4. A reference paper is a list of these "additional commitments" for a given sector,  which 
Members are invited to inscribe in their schedules of  commitments if they wish to do so. Thus, the 
reference paper only has a legal value inasmuch as it is inscribed in a Member's schedule of 
commitments.  But it can be a useful "reference" for negotiations on the liberalisation of trade in a  TN/S/W/26 
 Page 3 
 
 
 given sector.  There is to this day one refere nce paper, on telecommunications, which has been 
undertaken by a significant number of WTO Members1.  
B. WHY A REFERENCE PAPER IN  POSTAL AND COURIER ? 
5. The postal and courier sector has some specific features :  
(a) importance of regulation ;  
(b) predominance of State-owned operators  ;  
(c) tendency of the postal operators to diversify their activities  (finance, 
telecommunications, internet, express). 
6. These features mainly characterise the "trad itional" activities where a universal service 
obligation exists, but they can "spill over" in other sub-sectors, such as express delivery (cross-
subsidisation, for instance). They might justify specific rules for the postal and courier sector, in 
order:  
(a) to avoid that commitments in market access and national treatment are 
rendered ineffective by other practices  specific to the sector;  
(b) to have a common view  on the scope of terms commonly used in schedules of 
commitments (such as universal service) in order to clarify commitments  or possible 
restrictions to market access and national treatment which Members might wish to keep in their schedules of commitments.    
C. T
HE POSSIBLE CONTENTS OF THE REFERENCE PAPER  
This part describes each paragraph of  the proposed reference paper.   
1. Scope 
7. It is proposed to draft a reference paper for the whole sector (postal and courier),  
including express delivery services.   
2. Definitions 
8. The terms of "users" and "essential facilities", defined in the reference paper on 
telecommunications (hereafter RPT), are not used in  the proposal because they do not play the same 
role in the postal/courier sector.  
9. It is proposed to include a definition of individual licences and universal service , which 
did not exist in the RPT, but which seem necessary for the paragraphs dedicated to universal service 
and licensing procedures.  The definition of universal  service is consistent with (and inspired by) the 
definition given at UPU level.  
3. Prevention of anti-competitive practices 
10. This paragraph aims at preventing domina nt players from abusing their market power.  
It is substantially inspired by the paragraph of th e RPT.  However, the subsequent paragraph of the 
                                                      
1 75 Members have undertaken the reference paper in its entirety, 5 others have only done so partly.  TN/S/W/26 
Page 4  
 
 RPT, which describes examples of such anti-competitiv e practices, has not been included as a further 
analysis of the anti-competitive practices specific to  the postal and courier sector appears necessary.  
4. Universal service  
11. Universal service is a key component of the postal sector for most Members.  The EC 
believes that this principle should be expressly me ntioned in additional commitments rules.  In 
particular, this paragraph confirms the possibilit y to impose universal services obligations provided 
they respect certain basic rules, such as transparency, non-discrimination and a neutral administration.  
It is entirely inspired by the RPT.  
5. Licensing criteria 
12. This paragraph aims at giving operators minimal guarantees in the licensing 
procedures.  The wording of the RPT has been included, but mention of an appeal procedure has 
been added.  
13. In addition, the possibility of imposing an individual licensing procedure on an operator 
would be restricted to services where a universal service obligation exists.  This would answer concerns that some countries might actually feel en ticed by the reference paper to add new licensing 
procedures in activities where such procedures did no t exist yet (in express delivery services notably).  
6. Independent regulators  
14. This paragraph imposes the principle of an i ndependent regulator. The provisions of the RPT 
have broadly been included.  
D. R
ELATIONS WITH UPU 
15. The question of the relation between rules laid  down by the UPU and the rules of the WTO 
will have to be dealt with by Members.  One of these possible overlaps is the "terminal dues" system. 
Terminal dues are the tariffs received by universal se rvices operators for the delivery of international 
mail.  These tariffs are managed as per rules deci ded in the UPU but the question is whether the 
system, which draws a distinction between develo ped and developing countr ies and is not always 
related to costs, is consistent with  GATS and notably its MFN obligation.  
16. Because of its flexibility, a reference paper does not appear to be the right instrument to  
deal with this more systemic problem .  However, the question of the relations between UPU rules 
and GATS should be addressed in the negotiations at some point, in order to support ongoing efforts 
within the UPU to establish a more co st-oriented terminal dues system.   
__________