Mail carrier sues Competition Authority over universal service price
Estonia's national mail carrier Eesti Post (Omniva) has sued the country's competition watchdog for an extra €400,000 for offering the universal postal service.
Universal postal service involves the sending of letters and parcels. The provider of this postal service has the right to request compensation for unreasonably large expenses incurred while fulfilling this obligation. In 2021, Eesti Post received €1.1 million in compensation, although it requested €400,000 more, totaling €1.5 million.
Margus Kasepalu, head of the energy and infrastructure department at the Competition Authority, explained that Eesti Post has the opportunity to submit an application if it truly incurs unreasonable burdensome costs or if it must perform some additional mandatory service.
"If they incur an unusually high cost, which a typical business would not, they can submit an application and request compensation for such costs from the Universal Postal Service fund. The Competition Authority processes this application, and after reviewing all the details, decides whether additional compensation should be granted. They filed the complaint because we denied their application to that extent. €1.1 million was compensated from the fund for 2021, but we found the remaining amount unjustified," Kasepalu explained.
In a written response to ERR, Eesti Post's Communications Director Reelika Lepp noted that Eesti Post considered the Competition Authority's decision unjustified. During the proceedings, the company did not understand why the authority deemed the collection of letters from mailboxes on three days to incur the cost of the postman's and the vehicle's time, but not on the other two days of the week.
Margus Kasepalu stated that the compensation calculation still considered that the postal service is provided five days a week.
"Our calculations, explanations and everything else show that the amount currently paid out to them has been sufficient," Kasepalu said.
Reelika Lepp argued that the purpose of the dispute is to obtain a court's position on the principles of calculating the costs of the universal postal service.
The costs associated with providing the universal postal service are covered by a fund created for this purpose, to which all licensed mail service operators contribute.
--
Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!
Editor: Marcus Turovski
