EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 78/741

(2004/C 78 E/0790)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2464/03

by Piia-Noora Kauppi (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(23 July 2003)

Subject: Pricing of basic postal services

European users are often paying unjustified high prices for basic postal services. In particular, this seems to be the case in Germany, where a stamp costs more than twice its Spanish equivalent for consumers. It appears that, even though Deutsche Post was obliged by the German Regulator to slightly reduce its stamp price earlier this year (from EUR 0,56 to 0,55), the price charged by DPWN on a stamp for a basic letter of 20 grams is still the highest in Western Europe, even taking into consideration elements such as quality of service and population density.

In February 2000, the DVPT (Deutscher Verband für Post und Telekommunikation e.V.), the German association for post and telecommunication, filed a complaint with the European Commission (Comp/37 821) concerning the excessive prices used by Deutsche Post in the reserved letter mail area. DVPT argued that Deutsche Post used its excessive prices in the reserved area to cross-subsidise other services and referred to this as a breach of Article 82 of the Treaty (abuse of dominant position).

The Commission has in past years adopted important decisions to redress the abuses perpetrated by some postal operators. Can the Commission explain what is the current status of the above-mentioned DVPT case and what steps it intends to take in order to solve it?

Could the Commission indicate how it intends to ensure that the requirements of the Postal Directives and the Postal Notice (Notice from the Commission on the application of the competition rules to the postal sector and on the assessment of certain State measures relating to postal services (1)) as regards transparency of accounts for the postal operators are respected, in particular with regard to the separation of reserved and commercial activities?

Can the Commission indicate whether and how it intends to provide, in addition to the provisions contained in the Postal Directives and in the Postal Notice, detailed guidelines for the National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) on control of tariff levels, measurement of costs of universal service (if applicable) and use of monopoly profits by the incumbents, including suggestions for applications for alternative methods such as the returns on capital employed (ROCE) method?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(4 September 2003)

The Honourable Member's first question concerns the current status of the Commission's investigation of the complaint filed by DVPT concerning certain postal tariffs charged by Deutsche Post AG in Germany (2). Regrettably, the Commission is currently unable to disclose anything about the outcome of its investigation, since it is still pending. However, the Commission would like to emphasise the fact that — as noted by the Honourable Member — it is primarily the Member States themselves that have the responsibility to ensure that postal tariffs charged by the monopoly operator are proportionate to the actual costs incurred. The German regulator — the Regulierungsbehörde für Telekommunikation und Post (RegTP) — has far-reaching powers under the German Postal Act to determine the level of postal tariffs based on an analysis of the incumbent's cost.

With regard to the respect of the Postal Directive's provisions of transparency of accounts, national postal regulatory authorities are primarily responsible for this obligation (Article 14.5 of Directive 97/67/EC (3)). However, the Commission has addressed itself to a number of Member States during 2001 in order to be reassured that the applicable provisions were fully respected. Furthermore, a dedicated study was conducted on behalf of the Commission to look into the details of the implementation and application of the Directives' transparency of accounts provisions by Member States (‘Study on the cost accounting systems of providers of the universal postal service’, CtCon July 2001), which concluded that Article 14 of Directive 97/67/EC was broadly implemented and applied.

The Commission considers that the effective application of the Directive's provisions and competition rules constitute so far an adequate basis for ensuring a proper separation between reserved and commercial postal activities. However, due to the complexity of these issues, the Commission will remain attentive to any possible developments in this area.

The Commission has not the intention at this point in time to provide detailed guidelines to the national regulatory authorities on the issues suggested by the Honourable Member. An on-going monitoring of the situation by the Commission and a periodic exchange of views and practices between national regulatory authorities and the Commission already takes place on some of these issues at different occasions (e.g. workshops and panels carried out in the preparation of studies, bilateral meetings). Furthermore, and as stated above, the Commission has commissioned a number of studies which contain a comparison and best practice recommendations in some of these areas and can be the basis for a harmonised improvement of national practices (e.g. the abovementioned study on cost accounting; study on the impact of certain aspects of the Application of Directive 97/67/EC, Omega Partners August 2001; study on costing and financing of universal postal services, NERA October 1998).

The report on the application of the Directive that the Commission must present before the Parliament and Council before the 31 December 2004 (Article 1.5 of Directive 2002/39/EC (4)) appears to be an occasion that the Commission could use to propose further action, should this necessity be perceived.

(1) OJ C 39, 6.2.1998, p. 2.

(2) Case No COMP/37.821 — Deutscher Verband für Post und Telekommunikation E.V./Deutsche Post AG.

(3) 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.

(4) Directive 2002/39/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 June 2002 amending Directive 97/67/EC with regard to the further opening to competition of Community postal services, OJ L 176, 5.7.2002.