ERGP seeks extensive review of Postal Directive and new powers
19 November 20
Peter Dunn
The European Regulators Group for Postal Services suggested that very significant changes need to be made to the Postal Services Directive, including the addition of extensive new powers for sectoral regulators. The ERGP called for a refocusing of the PSD, with less focus on the universal service and more on the proper functioning of markets and competition.
Ofcom proposes regulation of Royal Mail's new five-day access service
16 November 20
Michael van Maris van Dijk
Ofcom, the postal regulator in the United Kingdom, has opened a consultation on imposing price control and access regulation on Royal Mail's proposed wholesale D+5 letter access services. Regulating the services would ensure that they will benefit from VAT exemption. Ofcom is proposing to apply the same access conditions as currently apply to Royal Mail's D+2 access services, including a margin squeeze test.
Decisions on the employment status of gig economy drivers
05 November 20
Peter Dunn
Voters in the US state California have decided to categorise gig economy drivers as independent contractors rather than as employees of the companies providing delivery and ride-sharing applications. The vote bypasses recent state legislation clarifying that such workers should be considered as employees. Courts in similar cases in France and the UK have considered Uber drivers as employees.
CJEU rules that ancillary activities are still subject to postal procurement rules
05 November 20
Peter Dunn
The Court of the Justice of the EU ruled that activities ancillary to the provision of postal services may still be subject to public procurement rules. The Court found that, for a postal service provider that is a public undertaking, so long as the services to be provided "actually serve to carry out" postal services, these ancillary services would fall within the wording of the relevant EU Directive on public procurement.
PostNord moves forward with its tests of parcel lockers in Sweden
04 November 20
Armen Ghalumyan
The Swedish USP PostNord is continuing to test the use of parcel lockers as an alternative delivery method. In particular, the USP has a pilot of 100 parcel lockers across different locations in Stockholm, and is cooperating with a grocery store chain to test the use of parcel lockers in sparsely populated areas of Sweden. PostNord already delivers to parcel lockers in Denmark, where the company is also the USP.
UPU postpones Congress to August 2021
02 November 20
Peter Dunn
The UPU's Council of Administration (CA) decided at an exceptional meeting to postpone its next Congress until August 2021. Côte D'Ivoire would continue to be the host city for the Congress but, if this proves impractical, the CA will review whether to relocate the Congress to Switzerland.