WRITTEN QUESTION E-1239/00

by Klaus-Heiner Lehne (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(14 April 2000)

Subject: Postal rates in Germany

Germany's Minister for Economic Affairs Müller has instructed the regulatory authority for postal services in Germany to halt the procedure relating to the expiry at the end of 2000 of the latest increase in postal rates to DM 1,10 and DM 1,00 per letter/postcard respectively and to grant a longer-term authorisation to retain these postal rates. The regulatory authority in Germany was already due shortly to complete the procedure and had the intention of refusing authorisation to retain the postal rate increases. This would have meant reintroducing a letter rate of DM 1,00 and a rate for postcards of DM 0,80. In the meantime, the advisory board of the regulatory authority has censured the Minister's action by 11 votes to 7 as uncompetitive and has called for this decision to be rectified.

Deutsche Post AG is a company that is also active in the European market outside Germany and is today one of the largest European companies engaged in the transmission of letters and parcels. The increased postage rate has up to now served to cross-subsidise less lucrative business sectors of the postal service, e.g. the parcels sector where there is much private-sector competition.

This prompts the following questions:

1. How does the Commission view this behaviour by the Deutsche Post AG?

2. How does it view the attitude of the Federal German Ministry of Economic Affairs towards the regulatory authority?

3. Does it intend to investigate this episode in terms of its Europe-wide implications for competition law?

4. What steps will it take if necessary?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(14 June 2000)

1. The Commission is currently dealing with several complaints concerning alleged cross-subsidisation of business sectors of the postal service using revenue from the reserved sector (collection, sorting, transport and delivery of domestic and foreign letters). The complaints are being examined in the light of the competition rules contained in the EC Treaty. The Commission would point out that this examination will be meaningful only if carried out on the basis of separate cost-accounting systems for each service in the reserved sector, on the one hand, and for non-reserved services, on the other. Article 14 of Directive 97/67/EC 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 requires the introduction of separate accounts(1).

2. The compatibility with Community legislation of the attitude of the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs towards the regulatory authority must be examined on the basis of the special legal provisions of Article 22 of Directive 97/67/EC. Should these special provisions not suffice to ensure the operational independence of the national regulatory authority for the postal service, it will be possible, if necessary, to resort to the general rules on competition, particularly Article 86 (formerly Article 90) of the EC Treaty.

3. In line with the answer given to the second question, the Commission intends to examine the matter initially in Article 22 of Directive 97/67/EC, which requires each Member State to designate one or more national regulatory authorities for the postal sector that are legally separate from and operationally independent of the postal operators.

4. On the basis of the separate accounts kept for reserved and non-reserved services, the Commission will look further into the allegation that competition in the non-reserved sector is being unlawfully impaired by revenue from the reserved sector. It may also prove necessary to examine whether, in view of the current postal rates for domestic and foreign letters, it is absolutely necessary for the German mail monopoly to continue in its present form in order to preserve a universal service.

(1) OJ L 15, 21.1.1998.