Dutch MPS yesterday again delayed voting on whether to fully liberalise the postal market onJanuary 1, 2008, in order to win time to consider last-minute amendments to the postal reform bill.
The vote, originally scheduled for April 17, is now expected in mid-May following the parliamentaryrecess.Passage of the bill has been held up over the last fortnight due to moves by the Labour Partyto include a legal obligation on all postal operators, whether public or private, to observeminimum social standards. Labour criticises the business model of private Dutch mail firms Sanddand Selektmail which do not pay basic salaries but which pay delivery staff according to volumesdelivered.
Junior economic affairs minister Frank Heemskerk asked for the vote on the bill to be delayedin order to have more time to consider the Labour amendments. He had originally spoken out clearlyagainst the proposals, saying that labour relations should not be incorporated into the postal law.
Under the bill, the remaining monopoly of TNT Post for letters under 50 grams would beabolished as of December 31, 2007, thus opening up the most lucrative part of the market to privatecompetitors.
