Polish government can now subsidise the postal universal service before the European Commission approves the state aid
22 April 24
Monika Kačeriaková
The Polish parliament amended the Postal Act to allow the government to compensate Poczta Polska for losses incurred from the provision of the postal universal service before the European Commission approves the state aid. For the period of 2021–2022, Poczta Polska will be compensated from the state budget with the maximum amount of PLN 750m (€173m).
Czech regulator proposes to maintain the current postal universal service until 2029
12 April 24
Monika Kačeriaková
The Czech communications regulator proposed to maintain the current scope of the postal universal service for the next designation period of 2025–2029. Czech Post, the current universal service provider, disagreed with the regulator’s proposal, arguing that the obligation to provide registered and insured items should apply to letters only.
Royal Mail urgently calls for non-first class letters to be delivered every other weekday under reformed USO
09 April 24
Armen Ghalumyan
Royal Mail has submitted its response to Ofcom’s call for stakeholder input on the future of the universal postal service. Amongst other proposals, the postal operator is calling for all except first class letters to be delivered every other weekday. Royal Mail has requested Ofcom to introduce the required regulatory changes by April 2025 at the latest.
Commission workshop discusses indicators for postal sector development up to 2040
03 April 24
Armen Ghalumyan
The second workshop on the prospective study on the future of the European postal sector discussed what indicators would be required to assess the most likely scenario for the development of the postal sector up to 2040. The next steps in the study will include an online survey and stakeholder follow-up interviews. The European Commission's study will help to assess the effects of possible changes to the EU postal regulatory framework, particularly the Postal Services Directive.
Ofcom plans to continue focusing on ensuring universal postal service affordability and reliability in 2024/25
27 March 24
Armen Ghalumyan
Ofcom’s annual workplan for 2024/25 has not set forward any specific new priority activities for the postal regulation. The UK’s communications regulator plans to continue with its typical postal regulatory duties, specifically related to ensuring the affordability and reliability of the universal service. At the same time, Ofcom identified four priority outcomes for its work in other sectors.
ERGP report: letter prices rising faster than parcel prices amid boom in parcel volumes
27 March 24
Michael van Maris van Dijk
Since 2018, European universal service providers have increased their domestic priority letter prices by about 40% but decreased their average parcel prices by 1.3%. This trend may reflect that operators are responding to the long-term market dynamics of decreasing letter volumes, increasing parcel volumes and effective competition in the parcels market.