207 Final COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT
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EUROPEAN COMMISSION Brussels, 17.11.2015 SWD(2015) 207 final COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Accompanying the document Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the application of the Postal Services Directive (Directive 97/67/EC as amended by Directive 2002/39/EC and Directive 2008/6/EC) {COM(2015) 568 final} EN EN Contents 1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND ................................................................ 4 1.1. Postal Services in the Digital Age ..................................................................... 4 1.2. The Postal Services Directive ............................................................................ 5 1.3. Purpose and Scope of the Fifth Application Report and Staff Working Document .......................................................................................................... 6 2. APPLICATION OF THE POSTAL SERVICES DIRECTIVE 2008/6/EC ............... 8 2.1. Transposition and Application of Directive 2008/6/EC .................................... 8 2.2. Regulation of Postal Services ............................................................................ 8 2.2.1. National Regulatory Authorities .......................................................... 8 2.2.2. Authorisation and Licensing Regimes ............................................... 10 2.3. The Universal Service: Basic Postal Services for All ..................................... 13 2.3.1. Designation of Universal Service Provider(s) ................................... 13 2.3.2. Services Provided under the Universal Service Obligation .............. 14 2.3.3. Frequency of the Universal Service .................................................. 15 2.3.4. Studies on User Needs and the Universal Service Obligation .......... 16 2.3.5. Tariffs for Universal Service Products .............................................. 17 2.3.6. Price Regulation ................................................................................ 21 2.4. Financing the Universal Service Obligation .................................................... 23 2.4.1. Regulatory Accounting ...................................................................... 23 2.4.2. Net Cost of the Universal Service Obligation ................................... 24 2.5. Access to Postal Services, Network and Infrastructure ................................... 26 2.5.1. Access Points ..................................................................................... 26 2.5.2. Access to Postal Infrastructure .......................................................... 27 2.5.3. Access to the Postal Network ............................................................ 29 2.6. Quality of Service ............................................................................................ 31 2.7. Protection of Users .......................................................................................... 33 2.8. Internal Market for Postal Services: the Cross-Border Dimension ................. 34 2.8.1. Legal Obligations and Regulatory Oversight .................................... 34 2.8.2. Tariff Principles ................................................................................. 35 2.8.3. Customs and Security Controls ......................................................... 36 2.9. Data Collection ................................................................................................ 37 2.10. Value Added Tax (VAT) ................................................................................. 38 2.11. Application of Competition Rules ................................................................... 41 3. MARKET DEVELOPMENTS IN THE POSTAL SECTOR ................................... 43 3.1. Sector Overview .............................................................................................. 43 3.1.1. Ownership Structures of Universal Service Providers ...................... 44 3.1.2. Financial Position of Postal Operators .............................................. 45 3.2. Letter Post Markets .......................................................................................... 46 3.2.1. Letter Volumes and Revenues ........................................................... 46 2 3.2.2. Competition in Letter Post Markets .................................................. 52 3.2.3. Cross-border Letter Post .................................................................... 54 3.2.4. Outlook .............................................................................................. 55 3.3. Parcel and Express Markets ............................................................................. 56 3.3.1. Parcel and Express Markets Overview .............................................. 56 3.3.2. Parcel Volumes and Revenues .......................................................... 60 3.3.3. Competition in Parcel Markets .......................................................... 64 3.3.4. Cross-border Parcel Delivery ............................................................ 66 3.4. Employment in the Postal Sector .................................................................... 68 3.4.1. Overview ........................................................................................... 68 3.4.2. Employment in Universal Service Providers .................................... 69 3.4.3. Type of Employment and Working Conditions ................................ 72 3.4.4. Social Partners and Industrial Relations ............................................ 73 3.4.5. Managing Restructuring .................................................................... 74 4. CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................... 77 5. ANNEX ON THE CALCULATION OF THE NET COST OF THE POSTAL UNIVERSAL SERVICE OBLIGATION ................................................. 83 3 1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 1.1. Postal Services in the Digital Age Postal services1 have a central role in creating and sustaining an effective and dynamic single market and are vital for the wider economy. In 2013, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the universal service area alone (i.e. products and services falling within the scope of the universal service) accounted for more than EUR 23 billion for the EU28.2 Over 85 billion letter post items were dispatched by universal service providers in the EU, as were nearly 2 billion parcels.3 The postal services sector is also an important employer with about 1.2 million people employed by universal postal service providers (USPs) in 2013,4 plus those working for other letter and parcel delivery operators. The European Express Industry was estimated to employ 272,000 in 2010, predicted to grow to 300,000 by 2020.5 The role of postal services is however changing rapidly and fundamentally, even more so since 2008. On one hand paper-based communications have declined in many Member States, while electronic-based communication witnessed significant growth. On the other hand, new technologies make shopping online more convenient and therefore increase the number of packages and parcels conveyed by postal operators. Consequently parcel and express revenues now account for more than half of the postal sector's total revenues, compared to 2007 when letter post was responsible for over half.6 With full market opening in the postal sector accomplished in all Member States, the universal service providers now face the possibility of competition from new market entrants in the letter segment, though in reality the level of competition differs significantly between Member States and is relatively low in majority of them. In the parcel segment, competition appears to be intensifying to take advantage of the opportunities offered by e-commerce. In response, universal service providers have increased their efficiency and restructured their operations to reduce costs. Many postal operators and other delivery companies are now more innovative and have developed new services, such as apps to track parcel delivery and electronic document exchange solutions. As a result however, postal workers' jobs and the skills needed for them have changed and overall employment (and in particular employment at universal service providers) has decreased.7 1 This Report, in line with the terminology in WIK-Consult, Main Developments in the Postal Sector (2010-2013), Bad Honnef, Germany 2013, p3 uses the term “postal services” to refer to any general delivery service whether provided by a (former) public or private operator. The major sub-segments of postal services are the letter post and the parcel and express services. The delivery services sector also includes non-postal delivery services that consist of services for items not prepared in a manner suitable for posting, such as, inter alia, the distribution of unaddressed mail, early delivery of newspapers and courier services. 2 European Commission, postal statistics. Figure does not include Germany and Romania. 3 Universal Postal Union (UPU) estimates for EU27 Number of letter post items domestic service and international service, and number of ordinary parcels domestic and international dispatch. UPU statistics include items dispatched by designated operators (i.e. universal service providers) only. 4 The indicator of domestic employment refers to the number of persons employed in postal services within the economic territory of the Member State of reference from the universal service