Brussels, 24/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission announced that it recognises the validity of the ministerial circular adopted on 18 May by the Italian government that transposes the Commission decision relating to the provision of new postal services in Italy.
On 21 December 2000, the Commission had adopted a decision in which it felt that the Italian decree N°261 of 22 July 1999, was contrary to the competition rules in the meaning that it reserved for the incumbent operator, Poste Italiane, the exclusive right for the delivery phase at a predetermined date or time of a new hybrid electronic mail service. Compared to the tradition postal service, this service includes a service of providing added value, notably the guarantee that the sent item created electronically would arrive at a predetermined time or date. The Commission felt that the delivery at a specific time or date constitutes a separate market and very different from the traditional services provided by post (universal service) and that there is no cause, from then on, to reserve it for the provider of universal service, Poste Italiane in this case. Thus it called on Italy to put an end to this infringement by ending these exclusive rights and the government undertook this obligation by adopting, last 18 May, a ministerial circular transposing this decision. In accordance with Article 2 of this circular, all operators providing these new services will be granted a general authorisation in Italy. The Commission notes that this official decision now allows all private operators to freely provide the new service in Italy by providing them with the necessary legal security.