Abstract
European Commission with the Decision SA.38869 (2014/N) has approved the Compensation Fund (CF) as a mean of financing the universal service net cost in Poland. In the light of this Decision, the paper examines firstly the features of a fair CF then the products of the universal service among different Countries, with a special focus on parcels and express courier. In the next section it is analyzed the difference between the parcel and express courier shipments in the light of prevailing market definitions in EC Decisions. As e-commerce shipments are boosting, the research also examines their characteristics and their eligibility to contribute to the CF. The paper concludes with a possible way forward after the Polish decision.
The views presented are those of the authors and not of the affiliated institutions. We would like to thank our session chairman Peter Dunn and discussant Mark Van der Horst at the 26th Annual Conference on Postal and Delivery Economics for providing us with a critical assessment of our paper and suggesting a more thorough analysis of the SSNIP (Small but Significant and Non-transitory Increase in Price) test.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The principle of solidarity is a key pillar of European Union Treaties, more specifically it is based on sharing both the advantages and burden among members.
- 2.
Article 7, subparagraph 5 of the Postal Directive states that: “Member States shall ensure that the principles of transparency, non-discrimination and proportionality are respected in establishing the compensation fund and when fixing the level of the financial contributions”.
- 3.
In The Nederland and in Germany the compensation fund is not required.
- 4.
Directive 2008/6/CE, recital 27, says, “whether the services provided by such undertakings may, from a user’s perspective, be regarded as services falling within the scope of universal service, as they display inter-changeability to a sufficient degree with the universal service, taking into account the characteristics of the services, including added value features, as well as the intended use and the pricing. These services do not necessarily have to cover all the features of the universal service, such as daily delivery or complete national coverage”.
- 5.
Decision UPS/Tnt Express (2013), § 210, says, “Furthermore, the key point is that express services come with a commitment by the supplier to arrive at a certain time of the following day. Only express services provide customers with the certainty that their shipment will arrive on time and customers are ready to pay higher prices for a reliable service. Express suppliers such as UPS emphasize the reliability of their express services and actively market a money-back guarantee in case the committed delivery time is not met.”.
- 6.
The US Antitrust Division (1982, Horizontal Merger Guidelines, Department of Justice, 1982) indicates the hypothetical monopolist test has an instrument to define the relevant market. The SSNIP test is used in this kind of analysis as it measures the customer reaction to a hypothetical permanent small price increase (from 5% to 10%).
- 7.
The percentage is referred to e-shoppers who have chosen the feature as “somewhat important” or “very important”. The question answered is: “When placing the final order, how important are the following features of delivery services?”
References
AGCOM. (2015a). Delibera N. 396/15/CONS - Nuovi obiettivi statistici di qualità e nuove tariffe degli invii postali universali ai sensi dell’art. 1, comma 280 della legge 23 dicembre 2014, n. 190.
AGCOM. (2015b). Delibera N. 298/17/CONS – Servizio Postale Universale: Analisi ed applicabilità del meccanismo di ripartizione e valutazione dell’eventuale costo netto per gli anni 2013 e 2014.
Commission Notice. (2003), On the definition of relevant market for the purpose of Community competition law. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:31997Y1209(01)&from=EN
Copenhagen Economics. (2013). E-commerce and delivery –a study on the state of play of EU parcel markets with particular emphasis on e-commerce. European Commission DG Market.
Copenhagen Economics. (2015). Study on the interchangeability of USO and non-USO services. Commissioned by EEA.
Copenhagen Economics. (2017). Effects of changing USO in Norway – Final Report, 2017. Correos web site. http://www.correos.es/ss/Satellite/site/producto-paquete_azul-todos_paqueteria/detalle_de_producto-sidioma=es_ES
Court Of Justice. (2017). Opinion of the Advocate General Campos Sánchez Bordona, Confetra and others, Joined Cases C 259/16 and C 260/16.
Court of Justice Judgment. (2018). Confetra and Others, C 259/16.
Decision of European Commission. (1999). Case No IV/M.1405 TNT Post Group/Jet Services.
Decision of European Commission. (1999). Case No IV/M. 1347 – Deutsche Post/Securicor.
Decision of European Commission. (1999). Case No IV/M. 1513 Deutsche Post/Danzas/Nedlloyd.
Decision of European Commission. (2003). Case No COMP/M: 3155 Deutsche Post/Securicor.
Decision of European Commission. (2005). Case No COMP/M 3971 Deutsche Post/Excel.
Decision of European Commission. (2013). Case No COMP/M 6570 UPS/TNT Express.
Decision of European Commission. (2015). SA.38869 (2014/N) - Compensation of Poczta Polska for the net of USO 2013–2015.
Decision of European Commission. (2016). Case No COMP/M: 7630 FedexTNT Express
Department of justice Antitrust Division USA. (1982). https://www.justice.gov/archives/atr/1982-merger-guidelines
Department of justice Antitrust Division USA. (2003). Merger guidelines.
Deutsche Post web site. https://www.dhl.de/de/privatkunden/pakete-versenden.html
Directive 2008/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council. (2008, February 20).
Directive 97/67/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council with amendments. (1997, December 15).
EFTA Decision. (2015). Case No 277/15/COL - Exempting certain logistic services of Posten Norge AS from the application of Directive 2004/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council coordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors [2016/488].
European Regulators group for Postal services (ERPG). (2013). ERGP opinion requested by the European Commission - European cross-border e-commerce parcels delivery and questions related to market analysis, 2013. http://ec.europa.eu/DocsRoom/documents/14343/attachments/1/translations
Eurostat. (2018). Eurostat statistics. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/E-commerce_statistics
Gautier, A., & Paolini, D. (2011). Universal service financing in competitive postal markets: One size does not fit all. Review of Network Economics, 10, 3.
Groupe La Poste. (2018). Catalogue des offres commerciales de la poste relevant du service universel postal 1er janvier 2018.
International Postal Corporation. https://www.ipc.be/
Mckinsey. (2014). Same day delivery – The next evolutionary step in parcel logistics. http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/travel-transport-and-logistics/our-insights/same-day-delivery-the-next-evolutionary-step-in-parcel-logistics
Mckinsey. (2016). Parcel delivery – The future of last mile. http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/travel-transport-and-logistics/our-insights/how-customer-demands-are-reshaping-last-mile-delivery
Poste Italiane web site. https://www.poste.it/prodotti/pacco-ordinario.html?wt.ac=1473800493295.
PostNL. (2017). European postal markets – 2017 an overview. https://www.postnl.nl/en/about-postnl/about-us/market-and-regulation/research-on-the-european-postal-market/
PostNL. (2018). Postal rates as of January 2018.
Romito S, Gori S, Scarfiglieri G. (2017). Compensation fund in postal service a step forward after the Polish Case. Paper Presented at 25th Conference on Postal and Delivery Economics.
WIK Consult. (2013). Main Developments in the Postal Sector (2010–2013). Study for the European Commission.
WIK Consult. (2016). Future scenario devepolments in the Dutch postal markets - Study for the Ministry of Economic Affairs. https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten/rapporten/2016/12/14/future-scenario-developments-in-the-dutch-postal-market
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Romito, S., Gori, S., Rovero, A. (2018). Compensation Fund in Postal Service: A Step Forward After the Polish Case. In: Parcu, P., Brennan, T., Glass, V. (eds) New Business and Regulatory Strategies in the Postal Sector. Topics in Regulatory Economics and Policy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02937-1_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02937-1_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-02936-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-02937-1
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)