Publications
Section 4(2)a of The European Communities (Postal Services) Regulations 2002 (S.I. No. 616 of 2002 
) designates An Post “..as a universal service provider for the purpose of the Directive and these Regulations with the obligation to provide a universal service.”
This means that An Post is obliged to provide certain services.
As the sole USP, An Post must provide a universal service to everyone and every organisation in the Republic of Ireland. This involves at least one collection and one delivery five days a week of postal items weighing up to 2 kilogrammes and postal packages weighing up to 20 kilogrammes.
Price
When considering whether or not to concur with any price increase proposals by An Post, ComReg must act in accordance with law and operate in a transparent manner, giving all interested parties the opportunity to comment on the proposals under consideration.
In relation to the pricing of universal postal services, ComReg has two separate powers:
Firstly and in accordance with section 70(2) of the 1983 Postal and Telecommunications Services Act (as amended) An Post “shall not increase any charge under a scheme under this section relating to a postal service reserved for the company under Regulation 8 of the European Communities (Postal Services) Regulations 2002 (S.I. No. 616 of 2002) without the concurrence of the Commission for Communications Regulation”. Since January 2006, only postal services weighing up to 50g are reserved to An Post.
Secondly, while ComReg’s prior approval is not required for services that fall outside the reserved area, An Post has a legal obligation to ensure that such tariffs are geared to cost, affordable, transparent and non-discriminatory, and ComReg has a legal responsibility to monitor An Post’s compliance.
A summary of the principle legal provisions considered by ComReg is contained at Appendix A to ComReg 07/10.
Quality
Regulation 12 (1) of S.I. No. 616 of 2002 requires ComReg to set and publish quality of service standards in relation to the universal service. In accordance with this regulation ComReg has set quality of service standards in relation to transit times for single piece priority mail.
Targets of 94% next day delivery and 99.5% delivery within three days of posting have been set and published for An Post’s single piece mail items in Ireland.
Regulation 12 (3) of S.I. No. 616 of 2002 requires ComReg to measure the quality of service provided by An Post, and to publish a report of monitoring at least once a year. ComReg, after consultation with interested parties, decided to publish reports of monitoring of single piece mail items on a quarterly basis as well as to publish an Annual Report. The monitoring exercise is undertaken independently of postal operators and it is based on the statistical methods set out in the relevant European standard (EN 13850) approved by the European Standards Institute (CEN). CEN receives its mandate from the European Commission. ComReg has contracted with an independent organisation to undertake the measurement in accordance with this European standard.
The measurement system is continuous and results of An Post's performance are reported in information notices published by ComReg each quarter with year to date reports, culminating in an Annual Report each year. The measurement relates to single piece mail only, i.e., performance of large scale or bulk mailings are excluded from this measurement.
Click here to see the most recent results achieved by An Post which are available on our consumer website www.askcomreg.ie.
Services
Specific postal services to be provided by An Post
ComReg has undertaken a review of the specific services that An Post must provide. Following a consultation process it was decided that the following national and international services were required to be provided:
- Clearing, sorting, transporting and distributing postal items weighing up to 2kgs;
- Clearing, sorting, transporting and distributing postal packages weighing up to 20kgs, with target delivery times and prices based on a published tariff;
- Services for registered items;
Services for insured items, with compensation of up to €4,600 for items lost or delayed; and support services, including:
- Redirecting post
- Sending books abroad
- Minding post (Mailminder)
- Business reply / Freepost
- Private boxes or bags
- Issuing free certificates of posting
- Providing free postal service for blind or partially sighted people
A complete review of ‘The Universal Postal Service - Formulating a working definition’ is available at ComReg 05/85.
An Post is also obliged to provide full and unconditional bulk mail access at a number of locations nationwide. Following a consultation process An Post was directed in Response to Consultation paper ComReg 07/06 "Regulation of the Postal Services - Universal Service Obligation - Bulk Mail Access" to provide full and unconditional bulk mail access at 43 locations in the State.
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Specific services that only An Post can provide (reserved services)
There are certain services ‘reserved’ to An Post which means that only An Post as the designated universal service provider can provide them. These services are confined to national and incoming international mail weighing 50g or less, providing the price is less than €1.375. All mail that falls outside the area ‘reserved’ to An Post may be handled by any other postal business operating in the Irish market. (See Regulation of Authorised Providers section)
ComReg reports on An Post quality of service performance between April and June 2008
Reference Number: PR040908
Download Document: PR040908.pdf- Date: Thursday, 4th September 2008
- File Type: Adobe Acrobat Document
- File Size: 30 KB
- Publications Type: Media Release
- Publications Category: Postal Regulation, Quality of Service
Get Adobe Acrobat ReaderSection 4(2)a of The European Communities (Postal Services) Regulations 2002 (S.I. No. 616 of 2002 ) designates An Post “..as a universal service provider for the purpose of the Directive and these Regulations with the obligation to provide a universal service.”
This means that An Post is obliged to provide certain services.
As the sole USP, An Post must provide a universal service to everyone and every organisation in the Republic of Ireland. This involves at least one collection and one delivery five days a week of postal items weighing up to 2 kilogrammes and postal packages weighing up to 20 kilogrammes.
Price
When considering whether or not to concur with any price increase proposals by An Post, ComReg must act in accordance with law and operate in a transparent manner, giving all interested parties the opportunity to comment on the proposals under consideration.
In relation to the pricing of universal postal services, ComReg has two separate powers:
Firstly and in accordance with section 70(2) of the 1983 Postal and Telecommunications Services Act (as amended) An Post “shall not increase any charge under a scheme under this section relating to a postal service reserved for the company under Regulation 8 of the European Communities (Postal Services) Regulations 2002 (S.I. No. 616 of 2002) without the concurrence of the Commission for Communications Regulation”. Since January 2006, only postal services weighing up to 50g are reserved to An Post.
Secondly, while ComReg’s prior approval is not required for services that fall outside the reserved area, An Post has a legal obligation to ensure that such tariffs are geared to cost, affordable, transparent and non-discriminatory, and ComReg has a legal responsibility to monitor An Post’s compliance.
A summary of the principle legal provisions considered by ComReg is contained at Appendix A to ComReg 07/10.
Quality
Regulation 12 (1) of S.I. No. 616 of 2002 requires ComReg to set and publish quality of service standards in relation to the universal service. In accordance with this regulation ComReg has set quality of service standards in relation to transit times for single piece priority mail.
Targets of 94% next day delivery and 99.5% delivery within three days of posting have been set and published for An Post’s single piece mail items in Ireland.
Regulation 12 (3) of S.I. No. 616 of 2002 requires ComReg to measure the quality of service provided by An Post, and to publish a report of monitoring at least once a year. ComReg, after consultation with interested parties, decided to publish reports of monitoring of single piece mail items on a quarterly basis as well as to publish an Annual Report. The monitoring exercise is undertaken independently of postal operators and it is based on the statistical methods set out in the relevant European standard (EN 13850) approved by the European Standards Institute (CEN). CEN receives its mandate from the European Commission. ComReg has contracted with an independent organisation to undertake the measurement in accordance with this European standard.
The measurement system is continuous and results of An Post's performance are reported in information notices published by ComReg each quarter with year to date reports, culminating in an Annual Report each year. The measurement relates to single piece mail only, i.e., performance of large scale or bulk mailings are excluded from this measurement.
Click here to see the most recent results achieved by An Post which are available on our consumer website www.askcomreg.ie.
Services
Specific postal services to be provided by An Post
ComReg has undertaken a review of the specific services that An Post must provide. Following a consultation process it was decided that the following national and international services were required to be provided:
- Clearing, sorting, transporting and distributing postal items weighing up to 2kgs;
- Clearing, sorting, transporting and distributing postal packages weighing up to 20kgs, with target delivery times and prices based on a published tariff;
- Services for registered items;
Services for insured items, with compensation of up to €4,600 for items lost or delayed; and support services, including:
- Redirecting post
- Sending books abroad
- Minding post (Mailminder)
- Business reply / Freepost
- Private boxes or bags
- Issuing free certificates of posting
- Providing free postal service for blind or partially sighted people
A complete review of ‘The Universal Postal Service - Formulating a working definition’ is available at ComReg 05/85.
An Post is also obliged to provide full and unconditional bulk mail access at a number of locations nationwide. Following a consultation process An Post was directed in Response to Consultation paper ComReg 07/06 "Regulation of the Postal Services - Universal Service Obligation - Bulk Mail Access" to provide full and unconditional bulk mail access at 43 locations in the State.
Specific services that only An Post can provide (reserved services)
There are certain services ‘reserved’ to An Post which means that only An Post as the designated universal service provider can provide them. These services are confined to national and incoming international mail weighing 50g or less, providing the price is less than €1.375. All mail that falls outside the area ‘reserved’ to An Post may be handled by any other postal business operating in the Irish market. (See Regulation of Authorised Providers section)
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