Final decision on statistical indicators of postal services
Preamble
1. By determination of 11 March 2009, approval was given to a final decision on the set of statistical indicators to be submitted to this Authority on a quarterly basis by postal service providers.
On 27 April 2012, Law No 17/2012, of 26 April, took effect transposing to the national legal system Directive 2008/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 20 February 2008. Law No 17/2012, of 26 April, lays down the legal regime that governs the provision of postal services, under a full competition regime, on national territory, as well as of international services to or from national territory.
It is thus necessary to adapt the collected statistical information to the new regulatory framework, replacing the current set of statistical indicators operated under a competition regime for a new form.
2. In this context, a new set of statistical data was drawn up, which may be found in annex hereto.
Definitions, categories and weight steps indicated in Law No 17/2012, of 26 April, have generally been adopted, and the experience of countries where the liberalisation process occurred earlier was taken into account.
In comparison with former indicators in force, the main changes introduced are as follows:
a) References to reserved area indicators were removed from section I. Services which remain reserved [paragraph 2b) of article 3 and paragraph 3 of article 57 of Law No 17/2012, of 26 April], must be reported on a case-by-case basis in Part II, which is to be answered exclusively by the concessionaire/universal service provider;
b) Definitions of services indicated in the new law were adopted. In particular, the maximum weight limit for postal parcels (previously, 20 Kgs) was removed.
c) As regards traffic of items of correspondence, editorial mail and postal parcels not covered by the category of express mail, the existing indicator has been subdivided into weight categories (2 Kgs in the case of items of correspondence and editorial mail and10 Kgs in the case of postal parcels), so as to break down traffic covered by new limits of the universal service;
d) For the same reason, direct mail is identified separately, and is now excluded from the scope of the universal service, having been created a new sub-category for postal parcels received from the EU, with two weight steps (20 Kgs);
e) Editorial mail traffic is also broken down to improve awareness of these markets and to facilitate answers to questionnaires from EUROSTAT and the European Regulators Group for Postal Services (ERGP);
f) Revenue indicators now have a breakdown level similar to that of traffic, for the reasons stated in points above;
g) New bulk mail indicators, which, according to information from operators, now represents a considerable and increasing proportion of total traffic, have been adopted, these indicators being monitoring so that the respective markets may be characterized and analysed. This type of mail also deserves a reference in the new Law;
h) New indicators concerning access to the network, postal infrastructure and services (pursuant to articles 38 and 39 of Law No 17/2012, of 26 April) have been introduced, which, according to experience from markets where the liberalization process is well underway, will be an essential reality for the knowledge of the market and the development of competition. Indicators which have been introduced are the associated volume of traffic and revenues they generate.
3. In addition to the above-mentioned new indicators, the collection of which has been justified, it is still necessary to maintain the collection of indicators included in the preceding form.
The intention is to collect traffic, revenue and postal network indicators that allow the assessment, in particular, of the level of development and use of postal networks and services, the development of competition and the relative position of providers and their evolution over time. This information is also requested by several international bodies to evaluate the development of the sector in several countries and the implementation of regulatory measures.
Indicators concerned are as follows:
a) Postal traffic indicators broken down by type of traffic (addressed postal items, editorial mail, direct mail and postal parcels) and by agreement of access to the network/infrastructure/services.
These indicators are broken down, in most cases, into the categories of express and non-express mail. This breakdown detail is required to achieve the above-mentioned targets and to meet requests from international bodies towards which ICP-ANACOM has reporting duties;
b) Revenue indicators
The only financial indicator in this new questionnaire refers to revenues, as in the previous questionnaire. Revenues are broken down by type of object (items of correspondence, editorial mail, direct mail and postal parcels), express or non-express mail within the category of express mail, and by the various weight steps mentioned in point 2., for the reasons mentioned therein. Indicators of revenues from agreements of access to the network/infrastructure/services have also been introduced, as referred to in point 2.
A new "Other revenues" indicator has been included, to allow the identification and analysis of the evolution of possible new segments of business and other services;
c) Postal network indicators.
Former postal network indicators are maintained, namely human resources, distribution centres, points of access and vehicles, post office boxes, letter boxes, and points solely for the purchase of stamps. These indicators enable an evaluation of the development of postal networks and postal services, including postal coverage and density, their collection having been imposed on ICP-ANACOM within the scope of its data reporting obligations towards the European Commission;
d) Traffic and revenues by product and by offer of access to the network and postal infrastructures of the universal postal service concessionaire.
In addition to the set of indicators in the previous questionnaire, that aimed to replace the quarterly form on the activity of the concessioned postal services - information required to monitor activities carried out in the scope of the concession - new indicators on offers of access to the network/infrastructure/postal services have been included (without prejudice to any addition information required to be attached, to monitor compliance with obligations associated thereto);
e) As before, there is a column for remarks of a qualitative nature.
Providers may use this column to justify significant variations, which may not be explained by existing trends or seasonal factors.
Moreover, this column must also be used in the case of indicators on access to the network/infrastructure/postal services, to insert network/infrastructure/postal service elements concerned.
4. Service providers shall be granted a period of 30 consecutive days to implement these indicators. Providers concerned are required to send this information on a regular basis as from the (calendar) quarter following the quarter in which the implementation period ends.
5. Where information is not immediately available, postal service providers are required to:
a) Submit estimates of the values in question, indicating the assumptions used for the respective calculation;
b) Submit the final information by the quarter following closure of the undertaking's accounts for the year to which the statistics refer;
After this date, information on the year concerned shall be deemed to be final. Any inaccuracies that are reported or detected after that date may be considered failures to comply with reporting obligations, under the law in force.
6. The information collected in this scope may be published by ICP-ANACOM1.
7. In accordance with paragraphs 1a) and 3 b) and c) of article 45 of Law No 17/2012, of 26 April, as well as paragraph 1 g) of Base VIII of the Bases of Concession of the Universal Postal Service, approved in annex to Decree-Law No 458/99, of 4 November, as amended by Decree-Law No 116/2003 of 12 June, and by Decree-Law No 112/2006 of 9 June, the attached set of indicators shall be submitted to ICP-ANACOM no later than the thirtieth day of the month following the end of each quarter, by email to dee.stats@anacom.ptmailto:dee.stats@anacom.pt, or through a future Extranet that may be implemented, or by mail to the following address:
ICP-ANACOM
DIC - Direção de Informação e Consumidores
Av. José Malhoa, 12
1099-017 Lisbon
Contacts above may also be used to request any additional clarification that may be required.
1 In this context, see determination of the Management Board of ICP-ANACOM of 2 February 2012, on the confidentiality in the information provided to the regulator by companies providing postal services, available at Postal services - indication of confidentiality in the information provided to the regulatorhttps://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1116771.
See also:
- Relatório da audiência prévia sobre o sentido provável da decisão relativa aos indicadores estatísticos a remeter trimestralmente pelos prestadores de serviços postais https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1135794
-
Questionnaire
(PDF 134 KB)
