Liberalisation of the postal market in Norway

The Ministry of Transport and Communications has today submitted on a public consultation a proposal for a full liberalisation of the postal market in Norway as of 1 January 2007. The proposal is based on the recommendations of an inter-ministerial working group appointed by the Minister of Transport and Communications in November 2003. The report of the working group was handed over to the Minister on 26 March 2004.

The inter-ministerial working group was requested to evaluate the impact of, and alternatives for, a liberalisation of the postal market beyond the requirements of the Postal Directive (Directive 97/67/EF as amended by Directive 02/39/EF). Norway Post has, in line with the Postal directive today the exclusive right to regularly distribute addressed domestic letters weighing up to 100 grams. The weight-threshold will according to the Postal Act be reduced to 50 grams as of 1 January 2006. The main conclusions of the working group are:

• A fixed end date for the opening-up of the Norwegian postal market should be set as soon as possible.
• Before the total opening up of the postal market, one and a half to two years are required to develop and adopt a sector-specific regulatory framework
• The reserved area can be removed without making amendments to the requirements of the universal postal service
• A geographically uniform tariff should be maintained for the distribution by the incumbent of single-piece items (Norway Post)
• A maximal price system should be assessed introduced for some of the services of Norway Post
• There are some economies of scale in the postal sector, primarily attached to the local distribution of postal items
• Measures to promote competition, i.a. access for other operators to the network of Norway Post, must be further evaluated.

The Ministry is of the opinion that full liberalisation of the postal market in 2007, will give consumers and customers a larger and more varied choice of postal services to a better price. Increased competition will lead to innovation and better quality of services. For rural areas, Norway Post will probably maintain a predominant position. In order to ensure good and affordable services in rural areas, a geographically uniform tariff for single piece items (typically items deposited in collection boxes) should be maintained. Further price regulation, e.g. a maximal price system should be further evaluated.

A regulatory challenge will be promoting measures that leads to sustainable competition in the longer term. A full liberalisation of postal services requires major amendments to the regulatory framework in the postal sector. It will take one and a half to two years to develop a sector-specific regime that is totally adapted to a fully liberalised postal market.

In order to ensure predictability about further liberalisation of postal services, the date of total liberalisation should not be conditional upon full market liberalisation in other European countries.

The Ministry is planning to submit a “white paper” to the Parliament (Stortinget) in Autumn 2004 about the liberalisation of postal services.

For more information, please see the report:
”Konkurranse på postmarkedet” – Rapport fra interdepartemental arbeidsgruppe (in Norwegian)