The implementation of the directive on postal services (Directive 97/67/EC), which is taking too long and is still incomplete, was described as unsatisfactory by the members of the European Parliament, who adopted an own-initiative report on the subject by a vast majority, on Thursday 15 September.
In particular, the MEPs stressed that the sector is still, in a great many member states, dominated by a historic player and the universal service providers. According to the adopted text, the member states and the Commission must create a framework to ensure greater transparency in price-setting and guarantee genuine performance in postal services to benefit European consumers, in the case of cross-border delivery services in particular. The Slovak Presidency has, incidentally, made this one of its priorities (see EUROPE 11589).
The MEPs have put forward a great many proposals, which include: - reinforcing the independence of the national regulatory authorities by separating the regulatory functions of activities related to the ownership or control of a postal operator; - maintaining the universal service, for instance to fight discriminatory policy based on population density (as in Italy); - improving cross-border postal services to help e-commerce take off; - tackling worsening working conditions.
The text received very strong support from the plenary (514 votes in favour, 103 against and 37 abstentions), with the notable exception of Conservative ECR Group. The reason for this is the inclusion in it of the call by the Greens and Social Democrats to fit tachographs – devices that measure time and distance – on board transport vehicles of below 3.5 tonnes. "This call for small vehicles to be fitted with tachographs is unnecessary, has been rejected in the past and would hit small businesses at a time when the market for deliveries of goods ordered online is growing rapidly", argued Jacqueline Foster (ECR, UK). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)