By letter dated 17.12.2014, CTT - Correios de Portugal, S.A. (CTT) submitted to ICP - Autoridade Nacional das Comunicações (ICP-ANACOM), a price and discount proposal in the scope of the universal postal service, intended to be applied with effect as from 01.02.2015, except for the price proposal for newspapers, periodicals and books, intended to enter into force on 01.06.2015.
CTT’s price proposal must meet criteria for postal services that comprise the universal service (pricing criteria), defined by determination of ICP-ANACOM of 21.11.2014, under paragraph 3 of article 14 of Law No. 17/2012, of 26 April (Postal Law), as amended by Decree-Law No. 160/2013, of 19 November, and by Law No. 16/2014, of 4 April.
Following this Authority’s urges, through faxes dated 22.12.20141 and 14.01.20152, CTT submitted, respectively by letters dated 07.01.2015 and 19.01.2015, received at ICP-ANACOM on the same dates, additional information and clarifications on the referred price proposals. In the referred letter of 19.01.2015, CTT also presented amendments to its initial price proposal.
Moreover, by letter dated 14.01.2015, received at ICP-ANACOM on the same date, CTT made a correction in conditions for applying discount tables for the national service, identified by mistake in the information submitted earlier.
By fax dated 20.01.2015, ICP-ANACOM notified CTT that the (ongoing) analysis called into question the conformity of the price proposal with all pricing criteria.
By letter of 06.02.2015, CTT made adjustments to its price proposal, further to which the company also notified that the new date for entry into force of the tariff would be 01.03.2015, except for the price proposal concerning newspapers, periodicals and books, the date of entry into force of which remained 01.06.2015.
The price proposal concerns services that integrate the universal postal service, referred to in paragraph 1 of article 12 of the Postal Law, and covered by article 14 of the same Law3. As such, the following services are covered by the proposal:
a) services of a national scope: standard mail, priority mail, registered mail, easy mail, books, newspapers, periodicals and editorial mail, standard parcels, postal summonses and notifications (reserved services) and insured items;
b) services of an international scope: standard mail, priority mail, registered mail, prime priority mail, easy mail, economic mail - special regime, books, newspapers, periodicals and editorial mail, standard parcels and insured items.
The proposal shows the following characteristics:
a) As regards the basket of services comprising items of correspondence, parcels, books, newspapers, periodicals and editorial mail, CTT’s proposal corresponds, in overall terms, to an average annual price change by 2.3%;
b) Specifically as regards books, newspapers and periodicals in the national service, which according to CTT benefit from the reading encouragement arrangement or are integrated in the framework of an agreement concluded between CTT and press associations, the price change is proposed to reach, on 01.06.2015, around 15% (an increase already provided for in the scope of the referred agreement), which corresponds, in average annual terms, to a change by 12.1%. CTT propose that national editorial mail prices, as well as international tariffs for books, newspapers, periodicals and editorial mail are maintained (as also provided for in the scope of the referred agreement);
c) For reserved services (postal summonses and notifications service), the price proposal corresponds to an average annual price change by - 3.8%;
d) Reduction of the value of discount rates that apply to the national standard mail.
1 Request for information made under paragraphs 7 and 10 of article 5 of the pricing criteria.
2 Request for additional information and clarifications made pursuant to paragraph 10 of article 5.
3 As regards services that integrate the universal service, CTT’s proposal does not include only tariffs applicable to the special price arrangement, governed by article 14-A of the Postal Law, such as for example standard bulk mail.
