18.10.2012

ANCOM applied four fines amounting to RON 30,000 to the postal operators which had not observed the obligation to adequately label the postal items.

ANCOM therefore sanctioned Romanian Post National Company (CNPR) and Posta Atlassib Curier Rapid, from Sibiu county, with RON 10,000 each, respectively Barsan Trans, from Alba county, and Expres Line, from Bucharest, with RON 5,000 each for failing to observe the obligation to appropriately mark the postal items.

According to the legislation in the postal field, the providers have, among others, the obligation to legibly label all the postal items introduced in their postal network with their denomination or trademark, as well as with the date of acceptance of the registered postal items or the date of clearance of the unregistered postal items, except for the postal items which are object of the direct mail service and are franked with imprints obtained with the aid of the printing press or through another printing or stamping procedure. Non-observance of these provisions may lead to confusions as regards the belongingness of the postal items and may burden or jeopardize their correct circulation.

“We discover that a new illegal practice arises among the postal service providers: the non-observance of the obligation to label the postal items. This may affect the proper functioning of the service and, most seriously, prevents the addressee from identifying the provider that made the delivery as well as from lodging possible complaints. Where this practice reaches alarming levels, we will not hesitate to increase these fines and, where the gravity justifies it, we may even decide to withdraw the right to provide postal services. ANCOM ultimately aims at encouraging a fair competition in a market which is to be fully liberalised from 1 January 2013”, the Director of the Monitoring and Control Executive Division within ANCOM, Mr. Cristin Popa, said.

Besides the fines applied now, from the beginning of this year ANCOM has also fined Posta Atlassib Curier Rapid, with RON 7,000, and FAN Courier, with RON 5,000, for the same wrongdoings. The total amount of the fines enforced this year for the failure to properly mark the postal items reaches RON 42,000.