Press Releases

ANCOM completes certain provisions in the field of the universal postal service

2.06.2015

 

The Romanian National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) adopted, within the Consultative Council, two decisions for amending and completing certain provisions regarding the provision of the universal postal service throughout Romania, among which the extension of the term for submitting the request for compensating the net cost of the provision of services within the scope of universal service.
In its capacity as a designated universal service provider until 31 December 2018, the National Company Romanian Post S.A. (CNPR) benefits from certain rights, such as the one of requesting the compensation of the net cost for the provision of services within the scope of universal service. Through the decisions agreed with the industry and adopted within the Consultative Council, ANCOM extends the term for submitting the request for compensating the net cost and for CNPR’s sending the separated financial accounts, from 1 July to 14 August of the year following the one for which they have been conducted.
Moreover, taking into account the previous experience regarding the duration and the complexity of the process of analyzing the compensation request, as well as the duration of the process of collecting and validating the statistical data for the postal services market, ANCOM extends the term within which it has the obligation to decide on the compensation of the net cost and on the amount to be compensated, from 135 to 160 days from the reception of the compensating request.
As well, with a view to improving the legal framework in place, ANCOM completes the secondary legislation in the postal services field, to include the general criteria for assessing the character of unfair burden of the net cost for the provision of universal service. In order to determine the extent to which the net cost is an unfair burden and should be compensated, the Authority will assess two economic indicators: (1) the profitability level of the average capital involved registered in the provision of the services within the scope of universal service, respectively (2) reaching a materiality level of 3% of the revenues registered from the provision of the services within the scope of universal service.
The two decisions adopted by the Authority bring a series of amendments of the provisions in three existing decisions, i.e. Decision no. 541/2013 on the terms and procedure for designating universal service providers in the postal services field, with the subsequent amendments and completions, and, respectively, Decision no. 1158/2013 on the designation of the National Company Romanian Post S.A. as a universal service provider in the postal services field and Decision no. 1159/2013 on the conditions for conducting and auditing separate financial statements by the National Company Romanian Post S.A..
The decisions enter into force within three days from the publishing date in the Romanian Official Journal, and, respectively, at the time of transmission to the National Company Romanian Post.
 
Additional information
The universal service in the postal field is the right of every person to benefit from the uninterrupted provision of basic postal services, at affordable prices for all users and at a certain quality level, in any location on the territory of Romania. The designated universal service provider, CNPR, has the obligation to provide services at affordable tariffs and at a certain quality level on the entire territory, including in remote geographic or sparsely populated areas, where the small number of postal items collected or distributed does not justify the presence of a provider of postal services, on commercial bases.
Taking into account the provisions of the legal framework in force in the postal services field, the net cost of providing the postal services within the scope of universal service can be compensated only if this is an unfair burden, representing the difference between the costs incurred by CNPR as a result of fulfilling the universal service obligations (baseline scenario) and the net cost of the same provider in the case it would operate exclusively on commercial bases, without the universal service obligations (alternative scenario).
In 2014, ANCOM carried out the first exercise for calculating and assessing the net cost conducted in the postal services sector in Romania. Following a complex process with a view to analysing the compensation request of the net cost of the provision of postal services within the scope of universal service for 2013, submitted by CNPR as a designated universal service provider, as well as  with a view to assessing the character of unfair burden in order to establish the opportunity of the net cost compensation, ANCOM found that - for 2013 - the net cost did not represent an unfair burden for CNPR, therefore ANCOM decided that this net cost should not be compensated.
top

All rights reserved 2024