The German government has confirmed that the country’s postal market will be fully liberalisedas of January 1, 2008, ending Deutsche Post’s remaining monopoly on letters under 50g.
The cabinet approved a statement from the country’s economics ministry which confirmed thepostal monopoly would expire on December 31, 2007, in line with current legislation. The governmentwould neither speed up the expiry of Deutsche Post’s exclusive licence – as demanded by competitors– nor extend it.
The German economics minister, Michael Glos, declared: “The postal market is preparing forliberalisation on January 1, 2008. We want to keep to this timetable.” Germany saw itself in linewith other important European countries such as the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland wherethe market would also be liberalised by that date. These countries represented 60% of Europeanpostal volumes.
On the controversial issue of VAT on postal products, the German government said that itfundamentally supported equal treatment for all postal companies in view of the current marketdistortion, and would review the legal situation. The European Commission recently launched legalmeasures against Germany and the UK over the VAT exemption for Deutsche Post and Royal Mail on theprice of postal products and services.
The European Commission aims to secure full postal liberalisation in all EU states in 2009 andwill publish proposals later this year. But it faces long political discussions among member statesprior to any agreement.
