28 January 2010 - Steve Lawson - © Hellmail Postal News

Postcomm, the UK postal regulator, today published its proposed work plan for the next two years ahead of a new regulatory framework to be introduced in April 2012. The work plan is subject to consultation but would appear to signal, in the short term at least, that regulatory powers are to remain with Postcomm rather than being transferred to Ofcom as suggested in the Richard Hooper report.

A change of regulatory control formed part of the report and included plans to partially privatise the Royal Mail. The government also said it would take responsibility for the pension deficit to make any sale more attractive and was supported by the Conservative party. However, unable to find a suitable buyer and facing a revolt from backbenchers, the plan appears to have been shelved, at least until after the general election. Lord Mandelson maintains that the recommendations of the Hooper report stand and that the new Postal Services Bill will be resurrected as soon as a buyer is found.

Chief executive of Postcomm, Tim Brown, said:

“Our primary goal is to protect the universal service and the interests of customers. We want to encourage Royal Mail and other operators to innovate and become more efficient in meeting customers’ changing needs.”

Postcomm said it sought to provide a stable regulatory environment, protect the universal postal service, allow Allows freedom for Royal Mail and its competitors to innovate and become more efficient in meeting customers’ changing needs and that the plan is sufficiently flexibile and resilient to be applied within any future statutory framework.

It also said that some changes to the current regulatory framework could be in place by April 2011 but that initially it would concentrate on creating the right conditions and ensuring there are the right safeguards for the longer term.

"We will deregulate where there is sufficient evidence and the necessary safeguards are in place." it said.

Postcomm proposes that its work plan will include:

* Protecting the universal service: Assessing customers’ needs from a universal service, covering issues such as the range of services provided, quality of service and whether the universal service is affordable for customers

* Analysis of markets: Investigating further the economic markets in which Royal Mail operates, assessing market power and identifying where the markets fails to protect the interests of customers

* Regulatory safeguards: Developing the necessary protections for customers and other operators. This will include a review of the way Royal Mail provides cost and revenue information; considering the nature of the controls on Royal Mail’s pricing and the scope of them in future; and reviewing the “Access”1 environment to give Royal Mail more freedom where appropriate in the upstream bulk mail postal market while safeguarding competition to give customers choice

Postcomm said that since the postponement of the Postal Services Bill last summer, it had been talking with a wide range of customers, trade bodies, operators (including Royal Mail) and other interested parties about the future direction regulation now needs to take.

The formal consultation period will close on March 28, 2010.

Receive our daily headlines free each morning - opt in or out with one click.

Information on advertising opportunities can be found here