Postcomm publishes its standard postal licence

12 November 2002

Postcomm today published the terms and conditions for the new standard postal licence. This implements the decision, announced on 29 May 2002, to allow rival operators to provide long-term mail services in competition with Royal Mail Group.

The new licence will come into operation from I January 2003 and will have a minimum life of seven years. Up to now, with the exception of Royal Mail, all postal operators have been restricted to interim licences of a minimum of 12 months’ duration.

The terms and conditions of the standard licence include a requirement for all postal operators to safeguard the mail, to set their own service standards and report on both of these twice a year to Postcomm and Postwatch, the consumer watchdog. The licence also requires operators to put in place a guarantee which would ensure that, if they go out of business, any undelivered mail is properly dealt with.

The decision document, Licences under the Postal Services Act 2000: Standard Conditions can be found in the Licensing Policy consultation section of the website. Copies are available from Postcomm at 6 Hercules Road, London SE1 7DB.

Notes for Editors

The first stage of postal competition, which opens up 30% of the UK letters market by value to competitors, will last from 1 January until March 2005. Competitors will be able to apply for licenses to provide bulk mail services of 4000 items or more per day, consolidated mail services or designated mail services.