Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive on common rules for the development of Community postal services and the improvement of quality of service (95/C 322/10) COM(95) 227 final - 95/0221(COD)

(Submitted by the Commission on 22 November 1995)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community and in particular Articles 57 (2), 66 and 100a thereof,

Having regard to the resolution of the European Parliament of 22 January 1993 concerning the Green Paper on the development of the single market for postal services (1),

Having regard to the Council resolution of 7 February 1994 on the development of Community postal services (2),

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee,

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions,

1. Whereas measures should be adopted with the aim of establishing the internal market in accordance with Article 7a of the EC Treaty; whereas this market comprises an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured;

2. Whereas the establishment of the internal market in the postal sector is of proven importance for the economic and social cohesion of the Community, in that postal services are an essential instrument of communication and trade;

3. Whereas the Commission presented, on 11 June 1992, a Green Paper on the development of the single market for postal services and, on 2 June 1993, a communication on the guidelines for the development of Community postal services;

4. Whereas the Commission has conducted wide-ranging public consultation on those aspects of postal services that are of interest to the Community;

5. Whereas the current extent of the universal postal service and the conditions governing its provision vary significantly from one Member State to another; whereas, in particular, performance in terms of quality of service is very unequal amongst Member States;

6. Whereas cross-border postal links do not always meet the expectation of users and European citizens, and performance, in terms of quality of service with regard to Community cross-border postal services, is at the moment particularly unsatisfactory;

7. Whereas the disparities observed in the postal sector have considerable implications for those sectors of activity which rely especially on the postal services and effectively impede the progress towards internal Community cohesion, in that the regions deprived of postal services of sufficiently high quality find themselves at a disadvantage as regards both their letter service and the distribution of goods;

8. Whereas the measures seeking to ensure the gradual opening-up of the market and to secure a proper balance in their application are necessary in order to guarantee, throughout the Community, and subject to the obligations and rights of the universal service providers, the free provision of services in the postal sector itself;

9. Whereas action at Community level to ensure greater harmonization of the conditions governing the postal sector is therefore necessary and steps must consequently be taken to establish common rules;

10. Whereas, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, a set of general principles should be adopted at Community level, whilst the choice of the exact modalities should be a matter for the Member States, which should be free to choose the system best adapted to their own circumstances;

11. Whereas it is essential to guarantee at Community level a universal postal service encompassing a minimum range of good quality services to be provided in all Member States at an affordable price for the benefit of all users, irrespective of their geographical location in the Community;

12. Whereas the aim of the universal service is to offer all users easy access to the postal network through the provision, in particular, of a sufficient number of fixed points of contact, and by ensuring satisfactory conditions with regard to the frequency of collections and deliveries; whereas the provision of the universal service must meet the fundamental need to ensure continuity of operation, whilst at the same time remaining adaptable to the needs of users as well as guaranteeing them fair and non-discriminatory treatment;

13. Whereas universal service must cover national services as well as cross-border services;

14. Whereas users of the universal service must be given adequate information on the range of services offered, the conditions governing their supply and use, and the tariffs;

15. Whereas the maintenance of a range of those services that may be reserved, in compliance with the rules of the Treaty and without prejudice to the application of the competition rules, appears justified on the grounds of ensuring the operation of the universal service under financially balanced conditions;

16. Whereas postal items weighing 350 grammes and over represent less than 2 % of letter volume and 3 % of the receipts of the public operators; whereas the criteria of price (five times the basic tariff) will better permit the distinction between the reserved service, and the express service, which is already liberalized;

17. Whereas direct mail should, in principle, be excluded from the services which may be reserved, as it constitutes a distinct segment of the postal market, which represents on average in the Community 17 % of the volume and 12 % of the receipts of the public postal operators of the letter service; whereas the maintenance of this service in the reserved sector could nevertheless be justified until 31 December 2000, in so far as it is necessary for the financial equilibrium of the universal service provider; whereas the Commission will decide on 30 June 1998 at the latest on the appropriateness of postponing the date of liberalization, taking into account the developments, in particular economic, social and technological developments that have occurred in the sector and taking also into account the financial equilibrium of the public service provider(s);

18. Whereas steps should be taken to exclude the distribution of incoming cross-border mail from the service which may be reserved, which represents on average in the Community 4 % of volume and 3 % of receipts of public postal operators for the letter service; whereas the maintenance of this service in the reserved sector could nevertheless be justified until 31 December 2000, in so far as its contribution to the financial equilibrium of the universal service provider is necessary; whereas the Commission will decide on 30 June 1998 at the latest on the feasibility of postponing the date of liberalization, taking into account the developments, in particular economic, social and technological developments, that have occurred in the sector and taking also into account the financial equilibrium of the public service provider(s);

19. Whereas a general re-examination of the scope of the reserved sector is scheduled for the first half of the year 2000;

20. Whereas, for reasons of public order and public security, Member States may have a legitimate interest in conferring the right to site letter-boxes intended for the reception of postal items on the public highway on one or more entities designated by them; whereas, for the same reasons, they are entitled to appoint the entity or entities responsible for issuing postage stamps bearing the name of the country;

21. Whereas special services, such as the express mail service (apart from greater speed and reliability in the collection, distribution and delivery of items, this service features all or some of the following supplementary facilities: guarantee of delivery by a fixed date; collection from domicile; personal delivery to addressee; possibility of changing the destination and addressee in the course of delivery; confirmation to sender of reception of the item dispatched; monitoring and tracking of items dispatched; personalized service for customers and provision of an à la carte service, as and when required), as well as the new services (services quite distinct from the conventional services) and document exchanges, do not form part of the universal service, and consequently there is no justification for their being reserved to the universal service providers; whereas the foregoing applies equally to self-provision (provision of postal services by the natural or legal person who is the originator of the mail, or collection and routing of these items by a third party acting solely on behalf of that person), which does not fall within the category of services;

22. Whereas Member States should be able to regulate, on their territory, the provision of postal services which are not reserved to the universal service providers by declaration procedures and, where justified, by authorization procedures; whereas those procedures must be transparent, non-discriminatory and based on objective criteria;

23. Whereas the Member States should have the option of making the grant of licences subject to universal service obligations or contributions to a compensation fund intended to compensate the universal service provider for the provision of services representing an unfair financial burden; whereas Member States should be able to include in the authorizations an obligation that the authorized activities must not improperly impair the exclusive or special rights granted to the universal service providers from the reserved services; whereas an identification system for direct mail may be introduced for the purposes of supervision when direct mail is liberalized;

24. Whereas it may be necessary in the future to harmonize at Community level the authorization procedures laid down by the Member States, in justified cases, for the commercial provision to the public of non-reserved services;

25. Whereas it may be necessary in the future to harmonize, at Community level, the conditions governing access to the public postal network in Member States;

26. Whereas, in order to ensure sound management of the universal service and to avoid distortions of competition, the tariffs applied to the universal service should be objective, transparent, non-discriminatory and cost-based;

27. Whereas, in the case of cross-border mail, the universal service provider in the incoming country should receive remuneration covering its costs; whereas this remuneration should also include an incentive to improve the quality of Community cross-border service;

28. Whereas separate accounts for the different reserved services and non-reserved services are necessary, in order to introduce transparency into the actual costs of the various services, and in order to ensure that cross-subsidies from the reserved sector to the unreserved sector cannot affect the competitive conditions in the latter;

29. Whereas consideration should be given to the interests of users, who are entitled to services of a high quality; whereas, therefore, every effort must be made to improve and enhance the quality of services provided at Community level; whereas such improvements in quality require Member States to lay down standards, to be attained or surpassed by the universal service providers, in respect of the services forming part of the universal service;

30. Whereas the quality of service expected by users constitutes an essential aspect of the services provided; whereas the evaluation standards for this quality of service and the levels of quality achieved must be published in the interests of users; whereas it is necessary to have available harmonized quality of service standards and a common methodology for measurement in order to be able to evaluate the convergence of the quality of service throughout the Community;

31. Whereas national quality standards consonant with Community standards must be determined by Member States; whereas, in the case of intra-Community cross-border traffic requiring the combined efforts of at least two universal service providers from two different Member States, quality standards must be defined at Community level;

32. Whereas compliance with these standards must be independently verified at regular intervals and on a harmonized basis; whereas users must have the right to be informed of the results of this verification;

33. Whereas Council Directive 93/13/EEC of 5 April 1993 on unfair terms in consumer contracts (3) applies to postal operators;

34. Whereas the need for improvement of quality of service means that disputes have to be settled quickly and efficiently; whereas, in addition to the forms of legal redress available under national and Community law, a simple conciliation procedure should be provided, which should be flexible, inexpensive and transparent, and should enable all relevant parties to participate;

35. Whereas progress in the interconnection of postal networks and the interests of users require that technical standardization be encouraged; whereas technical standardization is indispensable for the promotion of interoperability between national networks and for an efficient Community universal service; whereas users should be actively involved in the harmonization of technical standards;

36. Whereas the detailed drafting of those harmonized technical standards must be a step-by-step process; whereas guidelines on European harmonization provide for specialized technical standardization activities to be entrusted to the European Committee for Standardization;

37. Whereas the future work on the development of measures relating to the quality of Community cross-border service and technical standardization must be prepared under the aegis of the Commission, assisted by the Member States in consultation with interested parties, including associations of consumers, and with the assistance of a committee set up for this purpose;

38. Whereas, in order to ensure the proper functioning of the universal service and to ensure undistorted competition in the non-reserved sector, it is important to separate the functions of the regulator, on the one hand, and the operator, on the other; whereas no postal operator may be both judge and interested party; whereas it is a matter for the Member State to define the statute of one or more national regulatory authorities, which may be chosen from public authorities or independent entities appointed for that purpose;

39. Whereas the effects of the harmonized conditions on the functioning of the internal market in postal services will need to be the subject of an assessment; whereas, therefore, the Commission will present a report to the European Parliament and the Council on the application of this Directive three years following the date of its entry into force, and, at the latest, during the first half of the year 2000; whereas it is appropriate that the Commission should be assisted in this task by a review body which will monitor the evolution of the sector, that it should be composed of up to five independent experts appointed by the Commission who, together, will provide the necessary expertise and will collect all appropriate information about the developments in the sector, particularly concerning economic, social and technological aspects, as well as quality of service;

40. Whereas the Court of Justice has confirmed the applicability of the rules on competition to the postal sector; whereas this Directive must comply with the Treaty; whereas, in a notice of . . ., the Commission explained how the competition rules, and in particular Article 90 of the Treaty, applied to the postal sector; whereas the rules on competition require the creation of an independent authority to ensure the effective monitoring of the reserved services as well as the transparency of the postal organizations' accounting systems; whereas competition rules require that non-discriminatory access to the postal network be guaranteed;

41. Whereas this Directive does not affect the application of the rules of the Treaty, and in particular its rules on competition and the freedom to provide services,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

CHAPTER 1 Scope and definitions

Article 1

This Directive establishes common rules concerning:

- the provision of a universal postal service within the Community,

- the criteria limiting the services which may be reserved to the providers of universal service,

- tariff principles and transparency of accounts,

- the fixing of quality standards and the setting-up of a system to ensure compliance with those standards,

- the harmonization of technical standards,

- the creation of independent national regulatory authorities.

Article 2

For the purposes of this Directive, the following definitions shall be applicable:

1. postal services: services involving the collection (including public collection), carriage, and delivery of postal items;

2. public postal network: a system of human resources and tangible assets necessary to ensure:

- the public collection of postal items covered by the universal service obligation from mail boxes or other access points throughout the territory,

- the routing and handling of those items from their point of access to the postal network and the distribution centre,

- the delivery of those items to the addressees on the basis of regular delivery rounds;

3. collection: the process of gathering, transporting and relaying postal items from the place of packaging and from mail boxes where they have been deposited for that purpose, to a point giving access to the postal network;

4. clearance: the process of collecting postal items deposited in mail boxes on the public highways or on the premises of the universal service providers suitable for reception of postal items;

5. distribution: operations ranging from sorting in the distribution centres to the delivery of postal items to the addresses shown on the items;

6. postal item: any addressed item whose technical specifications allow it to be carried in the postal network. Such items include books, catalogues, newspapers, periodicals and postal packages containing merchandise with or without commercial value;

7. item of correspondence: a communication in written form on any kind of physical medium to be conveyed and delivered at the address indicated by the sender of the item itself or on its wrapping. Books, catalogues, newspapers and periodicals shall not be regarded as items of correspondence;

8. document exchange: delivery of mail by the senders to ad hoc exchange centres in which correspondents have designated boxes where they can come to retrieve their mail. Users of an exchange centre must belong to a group of subscribers to this service;

9. registered item: a postal item guaranteed on a flat-rate basis against risks of loss or damage and delivered against signed confirmation of receipt;

10. insured item: a postal item the contents of which are insured up to the value declared by the sender in the event of loss or damage;

11. incoming cross-border mail: incoming mail from another Member State or from a third country;

12. direct mail: item of correspondence consisting of the same message and sent to a significant number of addresses for advertising or marketing purposes;

13. universal service provider: public or private entity designated by a Member State to ensure the provision of a universal service, or parts thereof;

14. terminal dues: the remuneration applied between universal service providers for the delivery of incoming cross-border mail;

15. sender: natural or legal person responsible for originating the postal items;

16. users: professional users, domestic consumers and postal operators other than those responsible for the universal service (including intermediaries), where postal operators wish to have access to the services in order to provide an end-to-end service;

17. intermediary: any economic operator who acts between the sender and the universal service provider, by collecting, routing and/or pre-sorting postal items, before channelling them into the public postal network of the same or of another country;

18. national regulatory authority: the body or bodies in each Member State, to which the Member State entrusts inter alia the regulatory functions falling within the scope of this Directive.

CHAPTER 2 Universal service

Article 3

Member States shall ensure that users enjoy the right to a universal service involving the provision of a good-quality postal service for all users at all points on their territory at affordable prices.

To that end, Member States shall take steps to ensure that the density of the points of contact, and of the points where mail is collected, take account of the needs of users.

They shall take steps to ensure that the universal service providers guarantee every working day, and not less than five days a week save in exceptional circumstances or geographical conditions:

- one collection from the clearance points,

- one door-to-door delivery for every natural or legal person.

Each Member State shall take the measures necessary to ensure that the universal service includes the following minimum facilities:

- the collection, transport and distribution of addressed mail items and addressed books, catalogues, newspapers and periodicals up to 2 kg and addressed postal packages up to 20 kg,

- services for registered items and insured items.

The maximum and minimum dimensions envisaged for postal items are those laid down in the Agreement concerning Postal Parcels adopted by the Universal Postal Union at its Congress in Washington in December 1989.

Universal service as used in this Article covers both national and cross-border services.

Article 4

Each Member State shall appoint one or more postal operators to be responsible for providing universal service and shall notify the Commission thereof. In accordance with Community law, each Member State shall determine the obligations and rights assigned to the universal service provider(s), and shall publish them.

Article 5

Each Member State shall take steps to ensure that the universal service meets the following requirements:

- it shall offer a service guaranteeing the inviolability and secrecy of correspondence,

- it shall offer an identical service to all users whose circumstances are similar,

- it shall be made available without any form of discrimination whatsoever, especially without discrimination arising from political, religious or ideological considerations,

- it shall not be interrupted or terminated, except in cases of force majeure,

- it shall evolve in response to the technical, economic and social environment and to the demands of users.

Article 6

Member States shall take steps to ensure that users are regularly given sufficiently detailed information by the universal service provider(s) regarding the particular features of the universal services offered, with special reference to the general conditions of access to these services as well as to prices and quality standard levels. This information shall be published, in particular, through the use of publicly displayed notices or brochures.

Member States shall notify the Commission, within six months of the date of entry into force of this Directive, of how the information to be published in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph is being made available. Subsequent modifications shall be notified to the Commission at the earliest opportunity.

Article 7

Each Member State shall take steps to offer lasting guarantees regarding the provision of a universal service, as defined in this Directive.

CHAPTER 3 Harmonization of the services which may be reserved

Article 8

1. To the extent necessary to ensure the maintenance of the universal service, the services which may be reserved to the universal service provider(s) in each Member State are the collection, sorting, transport and delivery of items of domestic correspondence whose price is less than five times the public tariff for an item of correspondence in the first weight step, provided that they weigh less than 350 grammes, and without prejudice to paragraph 2.

2. The distribution of incoming cross-border mail and direct mail may continue to be reserved until 31 December 2000, wherever their reservation is necessary for the financial equilibrium of the universal service provider(s). The Commission shall decide on 30 June 1998 at the latest as to the appropriateness of maintaining the reservation of those services after 31 December 2000, taking into account the developments, in particular economic, social and technological developments, that have occurred by that date and also taking into account the financial equilibrium of the universal service provider(s).

3. Without prejudice to paragraph 2, the provisions of paragraph 1 shall be re-examined when the Commission reports to the European Parliament and the Council on the application of this Directive pursuant to Article 23, and no later than the first half of the year 2000.

4. Member States, upon request of the Commission, shall provide the necessary information for the decision envisaged in paragraph 2 and the report referred to in paragraph 3.

Article 9

Member States shall appoint the entity or entities that are entitled to place letter-boxes on the public highway for the reception of postal items and to issue postage stamps bearing the name of the country.

CHAPTER 4 Conditions governing the provision of non-reserved services and access to the network

Article 10

1. Member States may apply declaration procedures and, where justified, authorization procedures for the commercial provision to the public of postal services that are not reserved to the universal service providers. These procedures shall be transparent, non-discriminatory, and based on objective criteria.

2. The granting of authorizations may, where appropriate, be made subject to universal service obligations which are proportional, and to the obligation not to improperly impair the exclusive or special rights granted to the universal service providers, for the reserved services referred to in Article 8 (1).

3. Where a Member State determines that the universal service obligations under this Directive represent an unfair financial burden on the universal service provider, it may make the granting of authorization subject to an obligation to make a financial contribution to a compensation fund established for that purpose and administered by a body independent of the beneficiary or beneficiaries. In that event, the Member State must ensure that the principles of transparency, non-discrimination and proportionality are respected when fixing the level of the financial contributions.

4. Member States must ensure that the reasons for refusing an authorization are communicated to the relevant party and establish an appeal procedure.

5. Member States may provide for an identification system for direct mail, allowing the supervision of such services once they are liberalized.

Article 11

1. The European Parliament and the Council, acting on a proposal from the Commission and on the basis of Articles 57 (2), 66 and 100a of the Treaty, shall adopt the measures necessary for the harmonization of the authorization procedures governing the commercial provision to the public of non-reserved postal services, with the exception of those services that cannot be subjected to such constraints, such as document exchange and outgoing cross-border mail to other Member States.

2. The harmonization measures referred to in paragraph 1 shall concern, in particular, the criteria to be observed and the procedures to be followed by the postal operator requesting the authorization, the detailed rules governing publication of those criteria and procedures, and also the appeal procedures to be followed in the event of refusal of an authorization.

Article 12

The European Parliament and the Council, acting on a proposal from the Commission and on the basis of Articles 57 (2), 66 and 100a of the Treaty, shall adopt such harmonization measures as are necessary to ensure that users and providers of the universal service shall have access, under conditions that are transparent and non-discriminatory, to the public postal network during the various stages preceding the final distribution of postal items.

CHAPTER 5 Tariff principles and transparency of accounts

Article 13

Member States shall take steps to ensure that universal service tariffs comply with the following principles:

- prices must be affordable and must be such that all users have access to the services provided,

- prices must be fixed in relation to the costs for each service making up the universal service; Member States may decide that a uniform tariff is to be applied on their territory for each service composing the universal service,

- tariffs must be transparent and non-discriminatory.

Article 14

Member States shall take steps to ensure that terminal dues are determined in relation to the costs of the universal service providers responsible for the non-discriminatory handling and distribution of the mail in the country of arrival, and so as to ensure the quality of the services provided.

Article 15

1. Member States shall take the measures necessary to ensure, within two years of the date of entry into force of this Directive, that the accounting of the universal service providers is conducted in accordance with the provisions of paragraphs 2 and 3.

2. The universal service providers shall keep separate accounts, within their internal accounting systems, on the one hand for each of the relevant reserved services within the reserved sector (distinguishing between collection, transport, sorting and delivery) and, on the other hand, for the non-reserved services, in the same way as would be required if the services in question were provided by separate undertakings. They shall draw up in their annual report a balance sheet and a profit and loss account for the reserved services, on the one hand, and for the non-reserved services, on the other.

3. Whatever their system of ownership or legal form, the universal service providers shall have their annual accounts verified by an independent auditor. Universal service providers who are not under a legal obligation to publish their annual accounts shall hold a copy of these at the disposal of the national regulatory authority and the Commission.

The Commission shall take the steps necessary to ensure the confidentiality of the information received in this connection.

CHAPTER 6 Quality of services

Article 16

Member States shall take steps to ensure that the universal service is of good quality.

Quality standards shall aim, in particular, on transit times and on the regularity and reliability of services.

These standards shall be laid down by:

- the Member States, in the case of the national services,

- the Commission, in the case of intra-Community cross-border services, in accordance with the procedure set out in Article 21.

Independent performance monitoring shall be carried out at least once a year by external bodies unrelated to the universal service providers under standardized conditions to be laid down by the Commission and shall be the subject of reports published at least once a year.

Article 17

Member States shall take steps to ensure that standards are laid down for national mail that are compatible with those laid down by the Commission for the intra-Community cross-border services. However, regard being had to specific national conditions, an initial objective shall be to ensure that in all Member States the items of correspondence of the fastest standard category achieve an end-to-end transit time of one working day from the date of deposit to the date of delivery for at least 80 % of the items dispatched.

These standards shall be subject to periodic review.

Performance monitoring and the justification of results shall be carried out in compliance with the provisions laid down in Article 16.

Article 18

In accordance with the provisions of Article 16, the Commission shall, one year after the entry into force of this Directive, lay down quality standards for intra-Community cross-border services. It shall publish these standards in the Official Journal of the European Communities and shall take steps to ensure the regular monitoring and the publication of performance levels certifying compliance with these standards and the progress accomplished. These standards shall be subject to periodic review.

Pending the definition of those standards, Member States shall apply the following standard for items of correspondence in the fastest standard category: an end-to-end transit time of three working days from the date of deposit in the country of origin and the date of delivery in the country of distribution (D+3) for 90 % of the items dispatched, and five working days (D+5) for 99 % of the items dispatched. The standards in question shall be regarded as averages upon which universal service providers may improve.

Article 19

Member States shall take steps to ensure that transparent, simple and inexpensive procedures are drawn up for dealing with users' complaints, particularly in cases involving loss, theft or damage, or non-compliance with service quality standards. Member States shall ensure that an efficient and speedy system for reimbursement and/or compensation is available, and that disputes are settled fairly and promptly.

Without prejudice to other forms of redress under national and Community legislation, Member States shall ensure that users acting, where national law so permits, jointly with organizations representing the interests of users and consumers may bring before the national regulatory authority cases where complaints made to the universal service provider have not been satisfactorily resolved.

In accordance with the provisions of Article 16, Member States shall ensure that the universal service providers publish, together with the annual report on the monitoring of their performance, information on the number of complaints and the manner in which they have been treated.

CHAPTER 7 Harmonization of technical standards

Article 20

The harmonization of technical standards shall be developed, taking into account in particular the interests of users.

The European Committee for Standardization shall be entrusted with drawing up technical standards applicable to the postal sector on the basis of mandates and pursuant to the principles set out in Council Directive 83/189/EEC (4). This work shall take account of the harmonization measures adopted at international level, and, in particular, those decided upon within the Universal Postal Union. The standards applicable shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Communities once a year.

Member States shall ensure that, in all matters relating to the provision of the universal service, reference is made to the standards published in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

The status of the work carried out by the European Committee for Standardization and the progress achieved in this area by that body shall be the subject of consultations with the Advisory Committee in accordance with Article 21.

CHAPTER 8 The Advisory Committee

Article 21

The Commission shall be assisted by a committee of an advisory nature composed of the representatives of the Member States and chaired by the representative of the Commission. The Advisory Committee shall establish its own rules of procedure.

The Advisory Committee shall be consulted on the provisions relating to quality of service set out in Article 16 and the provisions relating to the harmonization of technical standards set out in Article 20.

The representative of the Commission shall submit to the committee a draft of the measures to be taken. The committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft, within a time-limit which the Chairman may lay down according to the urgency of the matter, if necessary by taking a vote.

The opinion shall be recorded in the minutes; in addition, each Member State shall have the right to ask to have its position recorded in the minutes.

The Commission shall take the utmost account of the opinion delivered by the committee. It shall inform the committee of the manner in which its opinion has been taken into account.

The Commission shall also consult the representatives of the postal operators, the industries involved, the users including domestic consumers and both sides of the industry on questions relating to quality of service and the harmonization of technical standards.

It shall keep the Advisory Committee regularly informed of the outcome of those consultations and of the work carried out by the review body referred to in Article 23.

CHAPTER 9 The national regulatory authority

Article 22

Each Member State shall appoint a national regulatory authority for the postal sector that is legally and operationally independent of the postal operators. Member States shall inform the Commission which national regulatory authorities they have designated to carry out the tasks arising from this Directive.

The national regulatory authorities shall have as a particular task ensuring compliance with the obligations arising from this Directive. They may also be made responsible for ensuring compliance with the national and Community competition rules in the postal sector.

The national regulatory authorities shall transmit to the Commission, once per calendar year, a report setting out the progress made at national level in the achievement of the objectives set out in this Directive. The annual report shall be transmitted to the Commission no later than five months after the end of the year covered by the report.

CHAPTER 10 Final provisions

Article 23

1. Three years after the date of entry into force of this Directive and at the latest by the first half of the year 2000, the Commission shall submit a report to the European Parliament and the Council on the application of this Directive. For this purpose, the Commission shall be assisted by a review body which will monitor the evolution of the sector.

2. The review body shall be composed of up to five independent experts, appointed by the Commission, who, together, shall provide the different areas of expertise required. They shall collect all appropriate, information on developments in the sector, particularly concerning economic, social and technological aspects, as well as information on quality of service.

Article 24

Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive not later than six months after the date of its entry into force. They shall immediately inform the Commission thereof.

When Member States adopt these provisions, these shall contain a reference to this Directive or shall be accompanied by such reference at the time of their official publication. The procedure for such reference shall be adopted by Member States.

Article 25

This Directive shall enter into force on the 20th day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

Article 26

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

(1) OJ No C 42, 15. 2. 1993, p. 240.

(2) OJ No C 48, 16. 2. 1994, p. 3.

(3) OJ No L 95, 21. 4. 1993, p. 29.

(4) OJ No L 109, 26. 4. 1983, p. 8.