European Committee for Postal Regulation (CERP)

Speech by secretary of state, Steinulf Tungesvik
Plenary meeting
Oslo, 11 ^th> of May, 2006

Dear delegates and guests,

It is a pleasure for me to welcome you all to the CERP Plenary meeting here in Oslo. After a long winter the summer now seems to be on its way to our city, and I hope that you will enjoy your stay in our beautiful capital – Europe’s warmest capital on Tuesday.

Your responsibility is to cooperate on different aspects of the regulation of postal services in Europe. Postal services have a very long history in our country. Nearly 360 years have passed since the establishing in 1647 of our national postal operator, Norway Post. It has played an important part in the building of our nation, sparsely populated and with long distances divided by fjords and mountains, by connecting people and businesses within the country and with countries all over the world. For many, many years, Norway Post was an integral part of the state, but ten years ago that finally changed. Since it was realised that much of the business of Norway Post was performed in the market, Norway Post was established as a limited company, with the state as sole shareholder. The company has its own board with full economic responsibility for the company in compliance with the relevant company laws. The Minister of Transport and Communications constitutes the General Assembly of the company as representative of the state.

The Postal Services Act and the Postal Services Regulations give the framework for the Universal Postal Service Obligations. The Ministry of Transport and Communications is responsible for the licence issued to Norway Post, in which the Universal Service Obligations are stated in detail. It is up to the board and the management of the company to fulfil these obligations. The Norwegian Post and Telecommunications Authority shall supervise compliance with the requirements laid down in the Postal Services Act, the Postal Services Regulations and the license.

The present Government finds it very important to secure a good supply of universal postal services of reasonable prices and good quality throughout the country. This is a necessary part of the infrastructure of any modern country, where swift and reliable communications between people, public administrations and businesses are essential. Norway Post has traditionally given us a very high quality on postal services throughout our country. My government intends to secure a high quality of these services even in the future.

The question of postal liberalisation has been on the agenda within many European countries for several years. In March 2005, the Norwegian Parliament adopted a proposal from the previous government for a full liberalisation of the postal market from 1st January 2007. My government, which took office after the General elections last autumn and consists of the Labour Party, the Centre Party and the Socialist Left Party, has made it clear that it is opposed to a full liberalisation of the national postal market, at least in advance of the European Union which, as you know, has not taken any final decision in this matter. The reason behind our opinion is that we believe that it still is necessary to retain a monopoly area to secure the universal service obligations for the whole population in our widespread country. Therefore the Government has recently put forward a new proposal to the Parliament on a withdrawal of the earlier decision regarding further liberalisation of the postal market. The proposal is expected to be adopted by the Parliament before this summer.

Even if Norway is not a member of the EU, we do have the EEA-agreement, or the European Economic Area, whereby Norway in principle is bound to implement the Postal Directive into our national legislation. Therefore, what goes on in the European Union is of great interest to us. Your responsibility as delegates to this Plenary is even wider than that, since CERP consists of countries both within and outside of the European Union. Postal services are essential to all the countries within the CERP membership, and consideration must be given to many regulatory aspects in the postal sector.

Hopefully, you will have successful deliberations on the different sides of European postal services on your agenda these two days. I thank the Norwegian Post and Telecommunications Authority for organizing this Plenary, and hope that it will be possible for you to se some more of Oslo than the inside of these premises. Finally, as an earlier postman – the first step of my professional career back in early eighties, I wish you all the best for your Plenary meeting, and again hope that you will have an enjoyable stay in our country.

Thank you.