Annex - Objectives on the density of the postal network and minimum services provided

Objectives on the density of the postal network and minimum services provided
(under Base XV of the Universal Postal Service Concession)

• I. Scope
• II. Density of postal establishments
• III. Density of letterboxes
• IV. Indicators on minimum services provided
• V. Reporting to ICP-ANACOM

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I. Scope

1. This document defines:

a) Density objectives concerning postal establishments and other points of access to the postal network allocated to the concession;

b) Objectives and minimum services provided, including rules on minimum operating periods of postal establishments.

2. Objectives and rules referred to in the preceding paragraph are set for a three-year period, covers the period from 01.10.2014 to 30.09.2017, being guaranteed by the concessionaire (CTT – Correios de Portugal, S.A.) on each and every day they are in force.

3. Objectives and rules referred to in paragraph 1 may be revised prior to the expiry of each period, where required by the exceptional circumstances of the case. The request for revision may be lodged both by ICP-ANACOM and the concessionaire.

4. For the purpose of paragraph 1, the following definitions apply:

a) Postal establishments: locations where concessionary postal services are provided and where other services and products supplied by the concessionaire and by third parties may be purchased, namely post stations and post offices, whereby:

i. Post stations shall mean concessionaire establishments, also known as Lojas CTT (CTT stores), where concessionary postal services are provided and where other services and products may be supplied by the concessionaire and by third parties, according to the concessionaire’s objectives;

ii. Post offices shall mean establishments of public or private bodies where, in parallel with other activities, concessionary postal services are provided, within the framework of a contract or other legal instrument concluded with the concessionaire.

b) Other points of access to the postal network, letterboxes, namely marcos and caixas de correio, whereby:

i. Marcos de correio shall mean infrastructures made available to the public, located on the public highway, where users may deposit postal items with the postal network;

ii. Caixas de correio shall mean infrastructures made available to the public, located on the public highway or in public access locations, where users may deposit postal items with the postal network.

II. Density of postal establishments

Network density objectives on locations where concessionary services are provided are set at the level of postal establishments.

The criteria for the distribution of postal establishments include:

a) Density of postal establishments, defined as the number of inhabitants per postal establishments;

b) Maximum distance for access to the service, expressed in meters travelled by the residing population to reach the nearest postal establishment.

1. At national level, the concessionaire must guarantee that the average number of inhabitants per postal establishment is lower than or equal to 4 600 inhabitants.

2. At national level, the concessionaire must guarantee a postal establishment within the maximum distance of 6 000 meters from the place of residence for 95% of the population.

3. At the level of urban areas, which include predominantly and moderately urban areas¹, the concessionaire must guarantee a postal establishment within the maximum distance of 4 000 meters from the place of residence for 95% of the population.

4. At the level of rural areas, which include predominantly rural areas², the concessionaire must guarantee a point of access within the maximum distance of 11 000 meters from the place of residence for 95% of the population.

5. in parishes with more than 20 000 inhabitants, the concessionaire must ensure at least one postal establishment providing the full range of concessionary services and an additional postal establishment, providing the same range of services, for each additional 20 000 inhabitants.

6. in parishes where the number of inhabitants exceeds 10 000 and is lower than or equal 20 000 inhabitants, the concessionaire must ensure at least one postal establishment providing the full range of concessionary services.

Methodological notes:

a) Only postal establishments to which the general public has access are taken into consideration, being excluded those that provide access only to contractual clients or companies;

b) The quantification of indicator 1 is based on data provided by INE for the country’s residing population, from the 2011 Census;

c)  Quantification of indicators 2, 3 and 4:

i. Take account of the distribution of the population at national level, the urban or rural nature of residing areas, according to the typology of urban areas defined by INE (the National Statistics Institute) in 2009, adjusted according to the 2013 administrative reorganisation of parishes (2013 version of the Official Administrative Map of Portugal), considering for the whole territory of the new parish the typology assigned in 2009 to the current town hall;

ii. The location of residing population is based on data from the 2011 general population census, at statistical subsection level;

iii. Do not take into consideration: mobile postal establishments; the post office located in the Selvagens Islands (Autonomous Region of Madeira);

iv. The calculation of influence areas of postal establishments does not take account of roads for authorities, traffic directions and toll roads.

v. In the calculation of the population that is at a specific maximum distance from a postal establishment, consideration is taken of statistical subsection population the centroid of which is within the referred maximum distance. As such, in case only a part of a specific statistical subsection is within the referred maximum distance, where the centroid of that subsection is within that maximum distance, it is deemed that all the subsection, as well as the population residing therein, is within the referred maximum distance. On the contrary, where the centroid of that subsection is at a greater distance, it is deemed that all the subsection, as well as the population residing therein, is at a greater distance.

d) Without prejudice to the reporting by CTT of values of indicators, under chapter V, the calculation of indicators 2, 3 and 4 shall be undertaken by ICP-ANACOM, using, for the definition of areas of influence for each postal establishment, the database of the Tom Tom road network for each year, which is updated annually, this calculation being relevant for the monitoring of compliance with objectives set out.

e) For the purpose of the monitoring of compliance with indicators on percentages, the value achieved by CTT shall be rounded to the decimal place. For other indicators, the value achieved shall be rounded to the whole number.

III. Density of letterboxes

Network density objectives as far as this equipment is concerned are defined at the level of the geographic points where letterboxes are located, that is, in locations where more than one piece of equipment exists, only one should be accounted for.

The criterion for distribution of letterboxes (marcos do correio and caixas de correio) is the density of letterboxes, defined as the number of inhabitants per point of access to a letterbox, located in the public highway or in public access locations.

1. At national level, the concessionaire must guarantee that the number of inhabitants per geographic point of access to a letterbox is lower than or equal to:

By the 4th quarter 2014	By the 1st quarter 2015	By the 2nd quarter 2015 and subsequently
1 160	1 140	1 100

2. Taking into account the urban or rural nature of covered areas, the concessionaire must ensure that the number of inhabitants per point of access to a letterbox is lower than or equal to:

a) Predominantly urban area: 1 767 inhabitants per letterbox;

b) Moderately urban area: 881 inhabitants per letterbox;

c) Predominantly rural area: 492 inhabitants per letterbox.

3. At national level, the percentage of parishes with at least one letterbox shall be:

By the 4th quarter 2014	By the 1st quarter 2015	By the 2nd quarter 2015 and subsequently
92.5%	95.0%	100%

Methodological notes:

a) Letterboxes that present use restrictions for the general public are not taken into consideration.

b) Letterboxes that are not accessible during a minimum period of hours every day are excluded. For the purpose of the quantification of indicators, only points of access operating for a 9-hour minimum daily period of time, between 8 am and 6 pm, are taken into consideration.

c) Quantification of indicators 1 and 2 are based on data provided by INE for the country’s residing population, from the 2011 Census;

d) The quantification of indicator 2 takes into consideration the typology of urban areas defined by INE in 2009, adjusted according to the 2013 administrative reorganisation of parishes (2013 version of the Official Administrative Map of Portugal), considering for the whole territory of the new parish the typology assigned in 2009 to the current town hall.

e) For the purpose of the monitoring of compliance with indicators on percentages, the value achieved by CTT shall be rounded to the decimal place. For other indicators, the value achieved shall be rounded to the whole number.

IV. Indicators on minimum services provided

1. The concessionaire must ensure the provision of a delivery service for the blind.

2. The provision of the full range of concessionary services must be ensured at least by one postal establishment per municipality.

3. The percentage of postal establishments that provide the full range of concessionary services intended for the occasional segment, in the total of postal establishments, must be at least 75%.

For this purpose, postal establishments that provide the full range of concessionary services intended for the occasional segment shall mean postal establishments providing the basket of services more usually used by the occasional segment of users, which includes the following services: standard mail, priority mail, easy mail, registered mail, insured mail, books and parcels, postal orders (issue and payment) and collections.

4. The maximum distance to a postal establishment providing the full range of concessionary services intended for the occasional segment shall be:

a) At national level: 8 500 meters for 97.5% of the population;

b) At the level of urban areas³: 5 500 meters for 97.5% of the population;

c) At the level of rural areas: 15 500 meters for 97.5% of the population.

5. The maximum distance to a postal establishment providing the full range of concessionary services intended for the occasional segment must be at the most 30 000 meters, for the whole of the population.

6. In rural areas, for population residing at a distance exceeding 10 000 meters to the nearest postal establishment, postmen shall also perform itinerant customer service operations, which specifically include sale of stamps and prepaid envelopes, acceptance of non-registered mail, acceptance of registered mail, home payment of postal orders.

7. The percentage of postal establishments providing the service of judicial documents by post compared to all establishments must be at least 50%.

8. Depending on the existence of limited working hours in some post offices operating in small villages, where no alternative location for operation exists, the application of short working hours is admitted. In this respect, the following measures are defined:

a) The number of postal establishments opened to the public less than 5 days and/or 15 hours per week must not exceed 1.5% of all postal establishments;

b) The number of postal establishments opened to the public less than 5 days and/or 15 hours per week must not exceed 20% of postal establishments in each municipality.

Methodological notes:

a) Only postal establishments to which the general public has access are taken into consideration, being excluded those that provide access only to contractual clients or companies.

b) Quantification of indicators 4, 5 and 6:

i. Take account of the distribution of the population at national level, the urban or rural nature of residing areas, according to the typology of urban areas defined by INE (the National Statistics Institute) in 2009, adjusted according to the 2013 administrative reorganisation of parishes (2013 version of the Official Administrative Map of Portugal), considering for the whole territory of the new parish the typology assigned in 2009 to the current town hall;

ii. The location of residing population is based on data from the 2011 general population census, at statistical subsection level;

iii. Do not take into consideration: mobile postal establishments; the post office located in the Selvagens Islands (Autonomous Region of Madeira);

iv. The calculation of influence areas of postal establishments does not take account of roads for authorities, traffic directions and toll roads;

v. In the calculation of the population that is at a specific maximum distance from a postal establishment, consideration is taken of the statistical subsection population the centroid of which is within the referred maximum distance. As such, in case only a part of a specific statistical subsection is within the referred maximum distance, where the centroid of that subsection is within that maximum distance, it is deemed that all the subsection, as well as the population residing therein, is within the referred maximum distance. On the contrary, where the centroid of that subsection is at a greater distance, it is deemed that all the subsection, as well as the population residing therein, is at a greater distance;

c) Without prejudice to the reporting by CTT of values of indicators, under chapter V, the calculation of indicators 4 and 5 shall be undertaken by ICP-ANACOM, using, for the definition of areas of influence for each postal establishment, the database of the Tom Tom road network for each year, which is updated annually, this calculation being relevant for the monitoring of compliance with objectives set out.

d) For the purpose of the monitoring of compliance with indicators on percentages, the value achieved by CTT shall be rounded to the decimal place. For other indicators, the value achieved shall be rounded to the whole number.

V. Reporting to ICP-ANACOM

The concessionaire shall send to ICP-ANACOM, by the 15th day of the 2nd month following the end of the (civil) quarter concerned, the following information:

a) Information on performance levels (values achieved) for each indicator defined;

b) Information on postal establishments and letterboxes operating by the end of each reporting period.

b.1) For each postal establishment, the following information shall be supplied:

a. unambiguous code of the establishment;

b. type (ex. post station, post office);

c. designation;

d. address;

e. designation of the district, municipality and parish where the establishment is located;

f. code of the parish where it is located;

g. geographic location coordinates, preferably in the WGS84 reference system;

h. working hours;

i. services provided.

b.2) For each letterbox, the following information shall be supplied:

a. unambiguous code of the letterbox;

b. type (marco or caixa);

c. address;

d. designation of the district, municipality and parish where the letterbox  is located;

e. code of the parish where it is located;

f. geographic location coordinates, preferably in the WGS84 reference system;

g. time of last collection.

c) Information on changes occurred, in each period, in the pool of postal establishments and letterboxes, as well as respective operating periods, including the date of the alteration geographic coordinates and respective grounds.

Information on geographic location coordinates for each letterbox is compulsory for letterboxes which have already been geo-referenced, and this information shall be included in the report as the respective letterbox is geo-referenced.

Information referred in b) and c) shall be submitted as an electronic file (Excel).

CTT shall identify, where appropriate, the information deemed to be confidential, together with the reasons therefor.