ANACOM establishes new indicators to ensure higher levels of quality in the universal postal service

ANACOM has defined the quality of service indicators which CTT - Correios de Portugal must comply with, as provider of the universal postal service, from 1st July until the end of 2020. Based on experience with the quality of service indicators in force from 2015 to 2017, ANACOM has decided to reformulate this set of indicators, which are deemed essential to ensure a higher level of quality in provision of the universal postal service without jeopardizing its sustainability and economic-financial viability. ANACOM's draft decision will now be submitted to a prior hearing of CTT and consumer organisations, as well as to the public consultation procedure, for a period of 30 working days.

CTT will be required to comply with a set of 24 quality of service indicators (compared to 11 indicators previously), as shown in the attached table. The most important changes are as follows:

• compliance with the target value for each indicator becomes mandatory (there is no longer a minimum value below the target value; in the previous system penalties was applied where this minimum level was not achieved);
• more stringent targets were set for some indicators; and
• for all indicators, in addition to a quality standard for each service (in terms of speed of delivery), a reliability goal has been established, which should be fulfilled in 99.9% of cases. This aims to ensure that remaining traffic is not delivered far beyond the defined limit.

The changes also involve definition of a harmonised requirement for indicators referring to priority mail, registered mail and newspapers, and daily and weekly periodicals. An indicator has also been created for bulk mail. Establishment of the new reliability targets mentioned above means that it is no longer necessary to retain indicators on priority mail and non-priority mail not delivered within 10 and 15 working days. With the new targets established, 99.9% of traffic has to be delivered within a maximum of 3 days (priority mail); 4 days (priority mail in Autonomous Regions) and 5 days (non-priority mail).

In accordance with the law, the indicators are measured by an external entity independent of CTT and the figures are reported quarterly to ANACOM. Meanwhile, an audit is currently ongoing, conducted for ANACOM by Grant Thornton & Associados, under a contract signed with this company in September following a public tender. This company will audit the 2016 and 2017 annual values reported for CTT's indicators of quality of service, complaints and requests for information. ANACOM carries out rigorous monitoring of the indicators, using all mechanisms to control the quality of service levels that it deems appropriate.

In a draft decision, ANACOM also approved the criteria governing the pricing of postal services that make up the universal service in the three-year period 2018-2020. These criteria considered estimates of the cost savings which the company expects to obtain from the adopted operational restructuring plan, in proportion to the weight of such services in total CTT mail. According to the analysis, it was possible to conclude that the new quality of service objectives will not result in increases in company costs.

As defined by ANACOM, the new rules will be applied to prices in force in 2019 and 2020; these prices are to be updated based on inflation (inflation rate minus 1.28 percentage points). In the same period, the variation in the price of non-priority postage stamps up to 20 grams will also be limited by that maximum variation. In 2018, the rules currently in force, which were defined by ANACOM in 2014, will still be applied. ANACOM's draft decision will now be submitted to a prior hearing of CTT and consumer organisations, as well as to public consultation for a period of 30 working days.

Quality of service indicators (IQS)

a) Under the 2015-17 rules, the indicator was not segmented according to the periodicity of sending, nor by Mainland Portugal and CAM (Continent, Azores and Madeira), but had national scope.
b) Under the 2015-17 rules, the indicator was not segmented according to Mainland Portugal and CAM, but had national scope.

* These indicators are no longer required with the new reliability targets. Under the new rules, losses of non-priority and priority mail are incorporated into non-priority and priority mail transit times.

Consult:

• Approval of consultation on quality of service parameters and performance targets of the universal postal service (2018-2020) https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1427214

• Consultation on quality of service parameters and performance targets of the universal postal service (2018-2020) https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1427217

• Approval of consultation on criteria governing pricing of the universal postal service - 2018-2020 https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1427215

• Consultation on the pricing of the universal postal service for 2018-2020 https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1427218