The representatives of the municipalities that make up the Intermunicipal Community of the Douro (CIMDOURO) met ANACOM on 22 October 2018 to raise concerns about postal communications in the region.
At a meeting with the Vice-Chairman of ANACOM'S Board of Directors, João Miguel Coelho, Member of the Board of Directors, Sandro Mendonça, Director of Market Regulation, Luís Manica, and Coordinator of the Postal Services Unit, Agostinho Franco, of ANACOM, the directors of CIMDOURO and the Municipal Council Presidents present (Armamar, Tabuaço, S. João da Pesqueira, Sernancelhe, Penedono and Sabrosa) warned of the damage caused to regional populations and the economy due to the closure of post offices.
The Douro local authorities consider it "unacceptable that inland regions with low population density should suffer any reduction in their already weak access to this service, of vital importance to the quality of life of the population."
At this meeting with ANACOM, the local authorities of CIMDOURO gave notice of the protective measures they have presented to the Administrative and Fiscal Court of Mirandela, seeking to prevent CTT - Correios de Portugal (CTT) from closing post offices. At the same time, they called on ANACOM to "ensure, as part of its regulatory mission, that CTT complies with the quality standards of the universal postal service (in particular the conditions governing provision of the service), arguing that cuts eliminating post offices and their transformation into mere service offices cannot guarantee adequate quality of service and cannot support sectors with capacity for growth, such as parcel traffic".
