Fuente: © European Union
http://europa.eu.int

EU: Antitrust: Commission opens proceedings against Slovakia for extending postal monopoly

/noticias.info/ The European Commission has requested Slovakia to clarify recent amendments to its Postal Law that may infringe EC Treaty rules on the abuse of dominant market positions (Article 82) in conjunction with the Treaty rules requiring Member States to ensure that measures concerning public undertakings and undertakings to which Member States give special or exclusive rights comply with all Treaty rules including the antitrust rules (Article 86). The amendments in question extend the monopoly of Slovenská Pošta to the delivery of so-called 'hybrid mail' services (i.e. where the content - e.g. invoices - is electronically transferred from the sender to the postal service operator who then prints, envelopes, sorts and delivers the postal items). This activity was open to competition before the amendments. The Commission alleges as a consequence, postal operators which had entered this market are now prevented by law from continuing their activity, and their commercial viability is at risk. The Commission has therefore informed Slovakia that it might adopt interim measures to require the new provisions to be suspended so as to prevent serious and irreparable harm to competition. The Commission's request takes the form of a "letter of formal notice", the first step in formal procedures under Article 86. The Slovak Government now has two weeks to provide observations on the interim measures and one month to reply to the Commission's general assessment. Depending on the response, the Commission may adopt a decision based on Article 86(3) of the EC Treaty to require the law to be amended to remove the new restrictions.

Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes commented: "An activity which had been successfully liberalised should not be re-monopolised to the benefit of the incumbent operator. Cost effective and efficient postal services are key to EU consumers and businesses and their operation should not be undermined by illegal state measures".

In the Slovak Republic, the delivery of hybrid mail items was open to competition and several private companies were active on that market. However, on 15 February 2008, the Slovak Republic adopted an amendment to its postal law, reserving the delivery of hybrid mail to the incumbent postal operator, Slovenská Pošta. Slovenská Pošta's delivery of hybrid mail does not appear to include additional features such as track and trace or 7 day a week delivery that were previously offered by private operators.

The European Court of Justice has previously ruled that the extension of a statutory monopoly into neighbouring but competitive markets is incompatible with Article 86 in conjunction with Article 82 of the Treaty. However, certain postal services may continue to be reserved to the universal service provider if such reservation is necessary for the maintenance of universal service. At this stage, there is no indication that the restriction of competition triggered by the amendment to the Slovak postal law is necessary for the provision of the universal postal service.

Hybrid mail is a specific form of postal service where the content is electronically transferred from the sender to the postal service operator who then prints, envelopes, sorts and delivers the postal items. Hybrid mail is an important feature for such companies as banks, insurances and telecommunications undertakings who regularly have to send very large quantities of mail (for example invoices). notas_de_prensa_archivo