Hybrid mail services combine digital and physical delivery. Usually, a business making use of a hybrid mail service generates electronic letters which are sent digitally to a printing centre. The letters are then printed in physical form for postal delivery.

Alternatively, hybrid mail may involve letters which are received physically at a collection point, where they are then scanned into an electronic format and sent digitally to the recipient.  

Only three countries (France, Poland and Romania) have specific postal rules relating to hybrid mail. However, hybrid mail services fall within the definition of a postal service in nine countries. 

In most of these countries, only the physical part of the hybrid mail service is considered to fall within the postal service. However, France, Italy, Poland and Romania also regulate the digital part of hybrid services.

In four countries (Denmark, Estonia, the Netherlands, Norway), the universal service provider does not provide any form of hybrid mail.

Cullen International’s latest benchmark analyses whether European universal service providers provide a hybrid mail service and, if so:  

• how it is provided in practice – as a single service or as two separate services (i.e. digital mail and printing are separated from delivery);  

• whether and to what extent the service is regulated by postal law;  

• whether the hybrid service is considered as a postal service and if so, which part of it (physical and/or digital); and 

• whether the hybrid mail service is part of the universal postal service and if so, which part of it (physical and/or digital). 

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