Section 30 of the Communications Regulation (Postal Services) Act 2011 (“2011 Act”) empowered ComReg to limit the amount by which An Post could increase the prices of any of its universal postal services, in a given year. ComReg established such a “price cap” in June 2014 and it was to remain in effect for five years, until June 2019. This ensured, among other things, that the prices of universal postal services remained affordable.
The Communications Regulation (Postal Services) (Amendment) Act 2017 has now been enacted and when it commences it will repeal section 30 of the 2011 Act and the current five-year price cap. This means that ComReg will no longer have any statutory power to regulate the prices of universal postal services on an ex ante basis (before the prices are increased) – i.e. An Post alone can increase such prices, without requiring any advance approval from ComReg, and ComReg cannot limit the size of such price increases.
More information is available in ComReg documents 17/18 and 17/18s.
