07.10.2019 

ANCOM published on its website the intention notice on the designation of the universal service provider in the postal field for the next 5 years. Any authorised postal service provider wishing to gain this capacity is invited to submit, in the following 30 days, a designation request alongside the necessary related documents.

Procedure on the universal service provider designation

According to the intention notice launched by ANCOM, the designated universal service provider will ensure the provision of services within the scope of universal service during 1 January 2020 – 31 December 2024.

Any postal provider authorised to provide the services within the scope of universal service may submit a designation request to ANCOM by 6 November 2019 at the latest. This request will be accompanied by a series of additional documents and information such as the financial statements for the last 3 years, the quality standards guaranteed by the applicant, the location of the man-served fixed access and contact points and of the contact points not served by personnel, and the estimation of the maximum net cost incurred by the provision of postal services within the scope of universal service for which the designation is requested. The model of the designation request, the information on the technical, economic and financial capacity, as well as the eligibility requirements to be met by the applicants are fully available here (in Romanian only). The documents may be submitted personally or by a representative of the applicant, upon signature, by mail with confirmation of receipt or in electronic form, with an extended electronic signature.

The interested providers will submit the designation request for all the categories of postal services within the scope of universal service, in view of their provision across Romania.  

They may consult here (Romanian only) the draft decision on the designation of the universal service provider in the postal field, as well as the list of localities characterised by exceptional geographical conditions and/or characteristics in force as of 1 October 2019, published by ANCOM exclusively for informing the interested providers on the rights and obligations that may be imposed on the designated universal service provider.

Services included in the scope of universal service

Access to universal service is the right of every person to benefit from the uninterrupted provision of the postal services within the scope of universal service, at a certain quality level, at any point throughout Romania, and at affordable tariffs for all users.

The postal services within the scope of universal service are: clearance, sorting, transport and delivery of domestic and cross-border postal items consisting of items of correspondence, printed matter and small parcels, weighing up to (including) 2 kg; clearance, sorting, transport and delivery of domestic and cross-border postal parcels up to (including) 10 kg; distribution of postal parcels between 10 kg and (including) 20 kg, sent from abroad to an address on the Romanian territory; the service for registered items; the service for insured items; clearance, sorting, transport and delivery of domestic and cross-border cecogrammes, and the distribution of coupons for the payment of social protection rights and of the information documents issued by the National House of Public Pensions to the beneficiaries’ homes, if they opted for payment to their debit account or to their card account, irrespective of the number of items making the object of this service. The universal service scope does not include the bulk mail (correspondence items, printed matter, parcels and small packages).

Additional information on the procedure for the designation of the universal service provider is available, in Romanian, in the ANCOM Decision no. 934/2019.