subject: Post and parcel delivery markets still far from completely liberalised say campaigners [print this page] As a deadline of the beginning of 2011 for countries to begin moves towards opening up their postal and parcel delivery markets to competition approached, campaigners supporting the proposals reiterated their view that such steps were crucial.
Progress towards full liberalisation of delivery services in many countries had been slow or non-existent, they claimed, despite European big-wigs confidently stating in April 2010 that, if countries continued to adopt change at their existing pace, 90 per cent of the postal and parcel delivery market across the European Union would meet the deadline.
With six months to go before the deadline passed, five EU member countries the UK, Germany, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands had undertaken the opening-up of their post and parcel delivery markets required under the EU timescale. And if anything, progress towards achieving the European Commission's target had slowed. Only two of these five had taken the steps required under the EC's third postal directive in the last three years.
Many postal industry-watchers say that progress towards liberalisation is hampered by the long commitments some delivery services have secured with their national governments for the right to provide a universal postal service. In France, for example, La Poste has a 15-year deal, of the type which observers believe would still stifle competition even when attempts were being made towards opening it up.
But The Netherlands provides a counter-argument to this claim. Here, liberalisation was embarked upon in 2009, despite provision of a universal postal service being contracted to TNT up to 2017.
In the UK, mail services are subject to limited competition, which has primarily affected business mail, and only been implemented for private post on a localised basis. It is in the parcel delivery sector where the effects of liberalisation have been more widely felt, but here this has brought benefits for all types of customers, no matter where they are or what number of parcels they are sending.
Full competition in postal services is still some years away, but the fact that the new UK government has made the subject one of its leading priorities suggests that, here at least, there is some will to address the issue and achieve a solution which results in no one feeling disadvantaged due to any changes.
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Post and parcel delivery markets still far from completely liberalised say campaigners
