The European Committee for Postal Regulation (CERP) project team (PT) on Policy met last 7-8 April at the offices of ANACOM in Lisbon to review latest developments in the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and European Union (EU).
In the scope of European matters, PT Policy considered creation of the European regulators group for postal communications (ERGP) in the same guise as the group for electronic communications (ERG), as well as the impact on CERP of creating this new body. It was considered that CERP's survival should not be placed at risk, especially since the ERGP will only comprise regulators from European Union member countries and not ministries or countries such as Spain and Norway which are represented internationally by ministries rather than regulators, and will insist on maintaining activity in CERP. Besides this, the ERGP mandate will focus on community matters and CERP should adjust to highlight its role as a co-ordination forum for UPU questions.
Regarding UPU issues and in the context of presenting the main topics under discussion at the next Union Reform Group meeting during the annual session of the Postal Operations Council (held in Berne on 12-30 April 2010), PT Policy also discussed the possibility of adopting the model and structure of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as an example for UPU reform. It also exhaustively discussed the UPU's '.post' project, which aims to create a UPU sponsored and managed internet top-level domain for the postal community. The PT Policy members worried about the possibility of creating such a project based on relatively non-transparent and discriminatory access rules, and that '.post' might result in a new monopoly. They therefore agreed on active intervention in the UPU to change the terms of the text on the '.post' project proposed for approval.
PT Policy also analysed the comments sent by Ireland concerning a PostEurop position paper on the WIK study about the regulators’ role, and converted them into a document which will be submitted to the 42nd CERP plenary meeting this 5-7 May in the Polish city of Krakow.
Barring any changes that result from the Krakow gathering, the next PT Policy meetings will be held in Paris in late September 2010 and in Warsaw in the spring of 2011.
