Postal Services: Survey of Competition Law Developments: 2019

Abstract

This article summarises the most significant competition law developments in the postal services sector in 2019, at EU level and at national level in France, Germany and the UK.1 2019 has seen an important judgment of the European General Court concerning the use by the Polish authorities of a compensation fund mechanism to fund the net costs of the universal postal service. In the State aid area, the European Commission has adopted decisions authorising State aid by France and by Italy to the incumbent operators La Poste and Poste Italiane, respectively, to compensate them for the costs of the public service of distributing the press. At national level, in France, the national competition authority obtained commitments from La Poste to settle competition law issues in the parcels delivery sector, and in Germany the administrative courts confirmed decisions of the Federal Network Agency prohibiting abuse of dominance, through discriminatory conduct, by Deutsche Post AG. In the UK, the Competition Appeal Tribunal dismissed Royal Mail’s appeal against Ofcom’s decision that it had abused its dominant position by discriminating against its only end-to-end competitor regarding proposed downstream network access prices.