WRITTEN QUESTION P-2506/00

by Giovanni Procacci (ELDR) to the Commission

(24 July 2000)

Subject: Universal scope of the postal service

The Directorate-General for Competition has instituted infringement proceedings against Italy concerning the legislative decree transposing the 1997 Postal Services Directive, with particular reference to certain categories of postal services regarded as distinct and separate from the traditional services.

The proceedings relate to hybrid electronic mail value added delivery services, express administrative correspondence services, and local business correspondence services. The Commission maintains that none of the above services can be reserved for universal service providers because they are not universal.

Given that recognition and protection of the universal service are an overriding imperative and priority objective of the Community rules governing postal services, does the Commission not believe that to refuse to class services for business customers or government departments and local services as typical services falling within the scope of the universal service is tantamount to discrimination against individual users and those who live in out-of-town areas? Does it not consider that this distinction might be contrary to the guarantee of fair and non-discriminatory treatment called for by the 1997 Postal Services Directive and the principle of cohesion invoked in the text of the Directive?

Joint answer to Written Questions P-2505/00 and P-2506/00 given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(8 September 2000)

The infringement proceedings against Italy for violation of Article 86 (ex Article 90) in connection with Article 82 (ex Article 86) of the EC Treaty concern the extension of the general letter mail monopoly to include a series of special value-added delivery services provided by private operators in Italy. The Commission decided to launch infringement proceedings after it had received several complaints by small and medium sized private operators active in providing value-added postal services in Italy in a system of open competition. The thrust of the current proceedings is to ensure that new or value-added services, previously provided by these small and medium sized Italian operators under a regime of open competition, are not included in the general letter mail monopoly, reserved to only one provider, the incumbent.

The proceedings against Italy do not aim to anticipate further liberalisation of the Italian postal market but to maintain the competitive marketplace existing in Italy prior to the entry into force of Decree No 261/99. The Commission's investigation reveals that this Decree, far from opening the market for postal services, extends the scope of the postal monopoly in favour of the incumbent. In particular, a series of special, value-added services are included within the scope of the incumbent's general letter mail monopoly. The value-added special services at issue comprise special features, such as several attempts at delivery, delivery at several alternative destinations, tracking and tracing throughout transit, delivery on special appointment, and keeping and updating of mailing lists. These features are at present not offered by the incumbent.

The services at issue do not form part of the universal service or the reserved area in any Member State. This is because under the 1997 Postal Directive(1), services quite distinct from conventional services do not form part of the universal service and cannot be reserved to the universal service provider.

The infringement proceedings in no way discriminate against Italy or create a disparity in terms of competition to the detriment of Italian companies or consumers. The Commission will launch infringement proceedings against any Member State which extends the reserved area in the same way as in Italy. The Commission does not target Italy and its incumbent. Indeed, it has recently opened anti-trust and state aid proceedings against the incumbent operators in several Member States. There is no reason why consumers in those Member States that are involved in infringement proceedings are disadvantaged as compared to consumers in Member States not involved in such proceedings. On the contrary, far from reducing the amount of postal service available in those Member States, the Commission proceedings aim to safeguard the widest possible choice for consumers to request new and value-added services from private operators or from the incumbent.

The goal of the Commission's infringement proceedings is to ensure that the services mentioned above continue to be provided by private operators in open competition with the incumbent. The services at issue in the proceedings are tailored to the specific needs of certain business customers or the public administration. The proceedings do not concern or negatively impact on the universal service for individual users in Italy.

(1) Directive 97/67/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 1997, on common rules for the development of the internal market of Community postal services and the improvement of quality of service (OJ L 15, 21.1.1998) at recital 21: whereas new services (services quite distinct from conventional services) and document exchange do not form part of the universal service and consequently there is no justification for their being reserved to the universal service provider.