Decision on the request made by CTT, under article 6 of the Universal Postal Service Quality Convention, of 10 July 2008, to deduct records of ordinary and priority mail, for all national flows, affected by the general strike of 24 November, for calculation of QSI defined therein
1. Pursuant to clause 8, paragraph 1b) of the Universal Postal Service Concession Contract, of 1 September 2000, as amended on 9 September 2003 and on 26 July 2006 (Concession Contract), CTT - Correios de Portugal, S.A. (CTT) must provide the universal postal service ensuring its interoperability, continuity, availability and quality, the latter being specifically provided in accordance with parameters and levels of quality set out in the Universal Postal Service Quality Convention (Quality Convention 1), concluded between ICP - Autoridade Nacional das Comunicações (ICP-ANACOM) and CTT on 10 July 2008 2, pursuant to Clause 12 of the referred Concession Contract and to article 8, paragraph 5, of Law number 112/99 of 26 July (Basic Law 3), as amended by Decree-Law number 116/2003 4 of 12 June.
2. Article 6, paragraph 1, of the Quality Convention lays down that "Should any force majeur or phenomenon situation take place, the burst and evolution of which are clearly outside the control of CTT, and have an impact on the quality of service provided by CTT, the latter may request, for the purpose of calculation of the quality of service indicators (QSI) comprised [herein], the deduction of the inputs for the concerned periods of time and geographic flows".
3. Paragraph 2 of article 6 establishes that force majeure or phenomenon situations mentioned in paragraph 1 mean "[...] unpredictable or insurmountable natural events and/or facts attributable to third parties, that are triggered, evolve, or the effects of which occur regardless of CTT's will and ability to control, such as war, subversion, epidemics, cyclones, earthquakes, fire, lightning, floods, general strikes and any other similar events that may impair normal conditions of clearance, sorting, transport and distribution of postal items."
4. According to paragraph 4 of article 6, the request for activation of the deduction must be submitted in writing by CTT, in a substantiated manner, within 60 days at the most from the date on which the events took place.
5. Paragraph 5 of article 6 establishes that the decision as to whether CTT's request should be taken into consideration is incumbent upon ICP-ANACOM, and must be notified to CTT within 30 days at the most from the date such request is received. In case ICP-ANACOM decides to reject this request, the Authority must justify its decision. Regardless of the request for deduction, CTT must undertake to try to find the best alternatives for the period the situations mentioned in paragraphs 1 and 2 of article 6 take place.
6. It is a well-known fact, having received wide coverage by the media, that a general workers' strike occurred on 24 November 2010, which, as reported, was joined by CTT's workers.
7. By letter dated 21.01.2011, CTT informed that on 24.11.2010 a general strike took place, which was joined by trade unions representing CTT's workers, leading to a standstill which registered a significant global take-up on the part of CTT (around 35,6%), with a higher take-up degree for operational handling and transport services (44,3%) and distribution services (50,3%). This disrupted the postal network's normal operation at national level - leading to postal items transit and distribution delays - and consequently affected the performance of quality of service during the month of November 2010.
8. CTT informed also that, to minimize the expected impact of the referred standstill, a plan to enhance operational activities was put in place on the days that preceded the general strike, which consisted in increasing handling operations during the preceding week-end and reinforcing distribution in the preceding Monday and Tuesday, so as to accelerate the delivery of items cleared during the period before the general strike.
9. According to CTT, notwithstanding the adopted measures, given the transit deadline of the various services, the standstill occurred on the referred date affected the normal performance of quality of service both of priority mail (the most affected service) and of ordinary mail (although in a lower degree).
10. On the ground that the standstill of 24 November 2010, caused by the general strike, constitutes a force majeure situation, the burst of which was outside its control, leading to postal items transit and distribution delays, thus affecting the performance of quality of service during the month of November 2010, CTT requested ICP-ANACOM, pursuant to and for the purposes of article 6 of the Quality Convention, to deduct, for calculation of QSI for November 2010, the records of priority mail and ordinary mail, concerning the following national flows and periods:
a. Ordinary mail sent between 22 and 24 November (inclusively) in all flows;
b. Priority mail sent between 23 and 24 November in Mainland flows;
c. Priority mail sent between 22 and 24 November (inclusively) in CAM flows (Mainland, Azores, Madeira).
11. Records concerned by CTT's request for deduction, ordinary and priority mail in all flows, in the first case, and CAM flows, in the second, may have an impact on QSI1 (Transit time for Non-Priority Mail), QSI2 (Transit time for Priority Mail - Mainland) and QSI3 (Transit time for Priority Mail - CAM).
12. Given the standard service for:
a. Ordinary mail - mail delivery up to 3 working days after clearance - the referred standstill is able to affect ordinary mail deliveries between 22 and 24 November;
b. Priority mail in Mainland flows - mail delivery up to 1 working day after clearance - the referred fact is able to affect priority mail deliveries between 23 and 24 November in the Mainland;
c. Priority mail in CAM flows - mail delivery up to 2 working days after clearance - the referred fact is able to affect priority mail deliveries between 22 and 24 November in flows between the Mainland, Azores and Madeira.
13. Facts alleged by CTT constitute a force majeure situation triggered, evolved, or the effects of which occurred regardless of CTT's will and ability to control, impairing the regular conditions of clearance, sorting, transport and distribution of ordinary and priority mail items for all national flows. In fact, general strike situations are specifically provided for in paragraph 2 of article 6 of the Quality Convention.
14. Therefore, considering:
a. information conveyed by CTT by letter of 21.01.2011;
b. provisions laid down in the above-mentioned paragraphs 1 and 2 of article 6 of the Quality Convention;
c. that, on 24 November 2010, a general strike convened by two national trade union organisations took place in Portugal;
d. that the standstill caused by the general strike influenced the delivery of ordinary and priority mail in November 2010, leading to postal items transit delays, thus affecting the performance of quality of service:
- of ordinary mail sent between 22 and 24 November (inclusively), in national flows;
- of priority mail sent between 23 and 24 November, in Mainland flows;
- of priority mail sent between 22 and 24 November (inclusively), in CAM flows;
e. that facts alleged by CTT constitute a force majeure situation triggered, evolved, or the effects of which occurred regardless of CTT's will and ability to control, impairing the regular conditions of clearance, sorting, transport and distribution of ordinary and priority mail items, and that general strikes are specifically provided for in paragraph 2 of article 6 of the Quality Convention;
f. that given the standard service for:
- Ordinary mail - mail delivery up to 3 working days after clearance - the referred standstill is able to affect ordinary mail deliveries between 22 and 24 November;
- Priority mail in Mainland flows - mail delivery up to 1 working day after clearance - the referred fact is able to affect priority mail deliveries between 23 and 24 November in the Mainland;
- Priority mail in CAM flows - mail delivery up to 2 working days after clearance - the referred fact is able to affect priority mail deliveries between 22 and 24 November in flows between the Mainland, Azores and Madeira,
g. that pursuant to article 10 of the Quality Convention, CTT must send to ICP-ANACOM quarterly reports, by the end of the month following the end of the quarter, with the evolution of values achieved for QSI, enabling the monitoring of those values,
the Board of Directors of ICP-ANACOM, in the exercise of powers conferred under article 6, paragraph 1 b), d), h) and n), and article 26 b), all of its Statutes, approved by Decree-Law number 309/2001, of 7 December, and pursuant to paragraph 5 of article 6 of the Universal Postal Service Quality Convention, of 10 July 2008, as amended on 10 September 2010, hereby determines as follows:
1. To grant the deduction of records of ordinary mail and priority mail directly affected by the general strike of 24 November 2010, concerning the following national flows and periods:
a. Ordinary mail sent between 22 and 24 November (inclusively) in all flows;
b. Priority mail sent between 23 and 24 November in Mainland flows;
c. Priority mail sent between 22 and 24 November (inclusively) in CAM flows (Mainland, Azores, Madeira).
2. To order CTT to submit to ICP - ANACOM, within ten working days:
a. QSI figures obtained for 2010 with and without the deduction of the referred records;
b. QSI figures obtained for the 4th quarter of 2010, with and without the deduction of the referred records;
c. a copy of the database for calculating QSI defined in the Quality Convention, with and without the records deducted in 2010, under article 6 of the Quality Convention.
1 Universal postal service quality convention, of 10.7.2008https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=980404
2 As amended on 10 September 2010 - vide Amendment to the Universal Postal Service Quality Convention, of 10.09.2010https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1051457.
3 Law no. 102/99, of 26 of Julyhttps://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=980037
4 Decree-Law no. 116/2003, of 12 of Junehttps://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=980055
