Fifth of post to be up for grabs
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• The European Commission has announced proposals to liberalise about 20% of the EU postal market by January 2003.
Brussels wants EU member states to remove national monopolies on letters above Mg—this is way below the current Ell limit of 350g. It also wants to see more private companies delivering letters below 50g where the price is at least 2.5 times that of a standard letter (down from the current limit of five times the price) with free competition in the market for international mall within the EU and all express mail.
This will open an extra 20% of the EU postal market to competition, compared with the current 3%.
In some EU states, including the UK, the proposed 50g limit would expose some first class post deliveries to competition. But EU Internal Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein insists that the proposal would retain enough protected business for post offices, adding that 'there are cast-iron safeguards for universal service".
He adds: "We must instead concentrate on implementing this balanced step-by-step approach to opening up the postal market to further competition. The challenges facing the postal sector mean that maintaining the status quo is simply not an option."
The proposal is expected to be a political hot potato for organisations such as the Freight Transport Association, which represents both established postal services and new commercial mail delivery companies.