ANACOM has approved the quality of service indicators to be accomplished by CTT - Correios de Portugal (CTT) in 2019 and 2020, as provider of the universal postal service. The new set of indicators stems from contributions received in previous hearings and public consultation, they are more demanding than those currently in force.
The new set of indicators to which CTT will be subject is more demanding than the current set, not only because the number of indicators has increased (24 indicators versus the current 11), but also because some of the targets are more demanding. ANACOM's objective in establishing this new set of indicators is to create conditions which ensure a higher level of quality in provision of the universal postal service, reversing the progressive deterioration in quality and the increase in user dissatisfaction observed over recent years, without compromising the service's sustainability and economic-financial viability.
With this decision, ANACOM intends, in a rigorous and sustained manner, to create conditions which promote and encourage continuous investment in the improvement of the postal network in Portugal, essential to Portugal's economic and social development, ensuring high standards of quality of service. The postal service has made and will continue to make a significant contribution to the population’s improved quality of life and to territorial cohesion, to combatting isolation among sections of the population, to countering the desertion of remote areas and to the growth of economic activities in all sectors and regions. These objectives require the existence of a high-quality postal communications service, in addition to the essential support that mail has given to the development of e-commerce, which is expanding at a rapid rate.
The new indicators of quality of service, to which CTT will be bound in 2019 and 2020, introduce important changes over those currently in force:
- compliance with the target value set for each indicator becomes mandatory (there will no longer be a minimum value as under the previous indicator system, less than the target value, and below which a penalty was automatically applied);
- more stringent targets are set for some indicators; and
- for each indicator, in addition to a quality standard for each service in terms of speed of delivery, a reliability target of 99.9% has been established for cases where speed and safety are decisive (priority mail, registered mail and daily and weekly newspapers) and 99.7% for remaining types of mail (non-priority mail, parcels and monthly and fortnightly newspapers). The purpose of this reliability indicator is to prevent remaining traffic being delivered too far beyond the defined standard;
- an indicator for non-priority bulk mail is created, which covers the bulk mailers segment.
These new reliability targets mean that the previous indicators on priority mail and non-priority mail not delivered within 10 and 15 working days are unnecessary. Under the new established targets, 99.9% of priority mail, registered mail and daily and weekly newspaper traffic must be delivered within a maximum period of 3 working days within the mainland and 4 working days when sent to or from the Autonomous Regions, and 99.7% of non-priority mail, parcels and monthly and fortnightly newspaper traffic must be delivered within 5 working days.
ANACOM also defined new indicators on customer counter waiting times at CTT post offices and postal service offices. Waiting time should be less than 10 minutes in 90% of cases and not exceed 30 minutes in 99.5% of cases. The aim is to improve the quality of the service provided to CTT customers and correct a situation currently generating a large and growing volume of complaints.
Under the law, indicators are measured by an external entity which is independent of CTT, and the resulting data is subject to auditing by ANACOM. In addition to this auditing, ANACOM conducts rigorous monitoring of the indicators, using a full range of control mechanisms, to ensure the levels of quality of service that it deems appropriate, and draws conclusions as to the regulatory approach to be exercised.
ANACOM also approved the criteria for CTTs formulation of prices of postal services that make up the universal service over the 2018-2020 three-year period; this, with the exception of the methodology used to forecast traffic of the basket of non-reserved services for the 2018-20 three-year period, which is subject to the prior hearing of CTT and consumer organisations, as well as public consultation, for a period of 20 working days.
As defined by ANACOM, in 2019 and 2020, the maximum variation of the prices of non-reserved services, to be confirmed further to the prior hearing and public consultation referred to above, may not exceed the value of inflation minus 1.33 percentage points. Over the period, the same maximum variation will also apply to the price of stamps for non-priority postage (for items up to 20g). In 2018, the current pricing and quality of service rules defined by ANACOM at the end of 2014 will continue to be applied.
|
Service |
Region |
Transit time |
New QSI 2019-2020
|
Current QSI |
|
|
Minimum |
Target |
||||
|
Non-priority mail |
National |
D+3 |
96.3% |
95.5% |
96.3% |
|
D+5 |
99.7% |
- |
- |
||
|
Non-priority bulk mail |
National |
D+3 |
96.3% |
- |
- |
|
D+5 |
99.7% |
- |
- |
||
|
Priority mail |
Mainland |
D+1 |
94.5% |
93.5% |
94.5% |
|
D+3 |
99.9% |
- |
- |
||
|
Mainland-Azores-Madeira |
D+2 |
90.0% |
84% |
87% |
|
|
D+4 |
99.9% |
- |
- |
||
|
Newspapers and periodicals a) |
National |
D+3 |
- |
95.5% |
96.3% |
|
- Sent at weekly intervals or more often (e.g. daily) |
Mainland |
D+1 |
94.5% |
- |
- |
|
D+3 |
99.9% |
- |
- |
||
|
Mainland-Azores-Madeira |
D+2 |
90.0% |
- |
- |
|
|
D+4 |
99.9% |
- |
- |
||
|
- Sent at intervals less often than once per week (e.g. monthly) |
National |
D+3 |
96.3% |
- |
- |
|
D+5 |
99.7% |
- |
- |
||
|
Cross-border intracommunity mail |
National |
D+3 |
88% |
85% |
88% |
|
D+5 |
97% |
95% |
97% |
||
|
Non-priority parcels |
National |
D+3 |
96.3% |
90.5% |
92% |
|
D+5 |
99.7% |
- |
- |
||
|
Registered mail b) |
National |
D+1 |
- |
89% |
91% |
|
Mainland |
D+1 |
94.5% |
- |
- |
|
|
D+3 |
99.9% |
- |
- |
||
|
Mainland-Azores-Madeira |
D+2 |
90.0% |
- |
- |
|
|
D+4 |
99.9% |
- |
- |
||
a) Under the 2015-17 rules, the indicator was not segmented according to interval of publication, nor by Mainland Portugal and publication), but had national scope. b) In the 2015-17 rules, the indicator was national in scope and not segmented between Mainland Portugal and Mainland-Azores-Madeira.
|
Counter waiting times |
Region |
Time |
New QSI 2019-2020 |
Current QSI |
|
|
Minimum |
Target |
||||
|
Percentage of occurrences up to x minutes |
National |
<30mins |
99.5% |
- |
- |
|
<10mins |
90.0% |
75% |
85% |
||
|
Service |
Region |
Time |
New QSI 2019-2020 |
Current QSI |
|
|
Minimum |
Target |
||||
|
Non-priority mail* |
National |
15 working days |
- |
2.3‰ |
1.4‰ |
|
Priority mail* |
National |
10 working days |
- |
2.5‰ |
1.5‰ |
* Under the new rules, losses occurring to non-priority and priority mail are incorporated into non-priority and priority mail transit times.
Consult:
- Approval of the quality of service parameters and performance targets associated with provision of the universal postal service (2018-2020) https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1457268
- 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 the pricing criteria for the universal postal service for 2018-2020 and consultation on the methodology to be used for forecasting traffic in the basket of non-reserved postal services https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1457197
- Consultation on the pricing of the universal postal service for 2018-2020 https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1427218
See also:
- Consultation on the methodology to be used to forecast traffic of non-reserved postal services in the traffic basket (2018-2020) https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1457273
