The postal services market in Ireland is liberalised since 1 January 2011 and therefore fully open to competition.
The 2011 Act requires that any person who is providing or intending to provide a postal service shall, before doing so, make a notification to ComReg. It is a criminal offence to fail to make a notification or to make a notification or a declaration which is false or misleading in any material respect and the offender is liable on summary conviction to a “class A” fine.
Any person providing or intending to provide a postal service needs to complete and submit a notification form (ComReg Document 12/81n) to ComReg.
As required by the Communications Regulation (Postal Services) Act 2011 (“the 2011 Act”), in completing the form, you will also need to decide whether your postal service is “within the scope of universal postal service”. To help you decide this, ComReg has set guidelines (ComReg Document 12/81a).
A completed ComReg Document 12/81n form must be sent by email to postal.team@comreg.ie and also be submitted in signed hard-copy by registered post to ComReg addressed to:
The Postal Team
Commission for Communications Regulation
One Dockland Central, Guild Street, Dublin 1, Ireland, D01 E4X0.
On acknowledgement by ComReg of the notification, the postal service provider is deemed to be authorised to provide the postal service or services described in its notification, subject to the conditions of authorisation in section 39 of the 2011 Act.
Go to: Get an Authorisation (Postal)
A condition of authorisation is the provision by the postal service provider of complaints and redress procedures to ComReg.
ComReg has published “Complaints and Redress Procedures: Guidelines for Postal Service Providers” ComReg Document 14/06 which provide guidelines to all postal service providers, to assist in drawing up and implementing a code of practice that sets out the procedures, standards and policies with respect to the postal service provider’s handling of complaints from postal service users, in accordance with the 2011 Act.
The 2011 Act provides that an authorisation to provide a postal service within the scope of the universal postal service is subject to the payment of a levy. S.I. 181 of 2013 provides that the amount of the levy imposed on each applicable undertaking, other than An Post, is subject to a minimum charge of €5,000 per annum per postal service provider providing postal services within the scope of the universal postal service.
Where an undertaking is liable to pay the levy for only part of a levy period, the amount of the levy imposed in respect of the levy period shall be the appropriate proportion of this amount.
Register of Authorised Postal Providers [Current Info – to discuss how to layout/populate]