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The complete liberalisation of postal services in Europe, including removal of any barriers which may remain on the side of the existing monopoly providers, was the subject of an international conference held in Krakow last week. The conference was attended by alternative postal operators from eight EU countries.

The two-day conference was organised by the InPost company, the largest alternative postal operator in Poland. The Czech Republic was represented by the Mediaservis company, which has been the largest Czech alternative provider of postal services for several years. The complete liberalisation of postal services in the Czech Republic is expected from 2013, on the precondition of problem-free approval of the amendment to the relevant law.

“Liberalisation is a problem only for those who don’t know how to or don’t wish to adapt,” declared Michal Koliandr, acting executive of the Mediaservis company. “Competition generates pressure to improve the standard, increase quality and efficiency in production and services. This applies doubly in the field of postal services,” he added.

The themes of the Krakow conference covered in particular the necessity for obligatory payment of value added tax also by national postal operators, the independence of a postal regulator on national markets and regulations for preventing cross-financing including regulatory barriers against predatory pricing. Another specific subject of the discussions was the creation of a European association of alternative operators, which should be a partner of the European Commission in applying the “Third Postal Directive” on individual national postal markets.

The conference was attended by the dominant alternative players on the individual postal markets – in addition to Mediaservis in attendance were also Citymail/Sweden, Sandd/Netherlands, Cromwell/Slovakia, InPost/Poland, DX Group/Great Britain, Janton/Finland and UNIPOST/Spain. The alternative postal operators wish to return to joint discussions in Brussels this September; invitations have also been accepted by representatives from Germany and France.

Mediaservis, established in 1999, is the sole alternative postal operator which provides its services throughout the entire territory of the Czech Republic. It delivers over 180 million direct mailing consignments annually throughout the Czech Republic. Within the framework of preparation for liberalisation of the postal market, this year Mediaservis launched the MediaPost feeder service, which offers alternative postal delivery to companies. In addition to direct and indirect distribution of consignments, the company also offers delivery of subscribed newspapers and magazines and provides telemarketing services. Representatives of the Mediaservis company are members of a working group, which is preparing an amendment to the law on postal services no. 29/2000 Coll., together with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Czech Post Office. The resulting form of the amendment shall be of key importance for the complete liberalisation of the postal market in the Czech Republic after 2012.