Mart Mägi, CEO of Eesti Post, said that the fund was established in the mid-2000s to cover the "unreasonable costs" of providing the nationwide postal service, referred to as the universal postal service and aimed at reaching everyone in Estonia.

All postal operators were as a result required to contribute to the fund.

However, since the market volumes have declined, partly due to the decline of the print media.

Contributions have fallen in line with that, leaving Eesti Post to bear the bulk of the financial burden.

This comes to around half a million euros per year, and Eesti Post has not received compensation for this for several years.

Currently, the service fund holds approximately a million euros, but this amount is unlikely to be enough.

Additionally, the Competition Authority (Konkurentsiamet) and Eesti Post are currently in the courts over disputes over losses in 2021.

According to Margus Kasepalu, head of the Competition Authority's energy and infrastructure department, Eesti Post initially requested €1.6 million for the 2021 shortfall, but the parties eventually agreed on €1 million.

However, Eesti Post then went to court on the basis of this difference.

Kasepalu emphasized that, under the law, Eesti Post is entitled to compensation only for "unreasonably burdensome costs," and not for all losses.

The disputes are often highly technical, such as the question of whether certain delivery routes are necessary.

For example, there is also an ongoing court dispute over whether Eesti Post must maintain routes for just a few letters, or primarily to distribute newspapers, magazines and periodicals – at a time when more and more of this media is online.

Kasepalu said: "It cannot be considered reasonable to maintain a delivery route on the off chance of needing to deliver a package or letter there once a month. No business operates this way."

Despite these ongoing disputes, Minister Hartman has recognized the deeper issue: Even if the Competition Authority pays Eesti Post less than it is requesting, the fund is unlikely to have sufficient funds to cover all the claims on way or another.

In a letter to Justice Minister Liisa-Ly Pakosta (Eesti 200), Minister Hartman pointed out that the justice ministry is the overseer of the Competition Authority.

Hartman consequently requested that the ministry find the necessary funds to cover the shortfall.

Ministry of Justice Deputy Secretary General Mariliis Mikli said that the funds cannot come from the ministry's budget, as no resources are allocated for such costs.

The issue has sparked debate over the sustainability of the current remuneration system.

Kasepalu at the Competition Authority stressed the goal of replacing the current system, advocating for a more predictable model where service costs are agreed upon in advance, avoiding disputes over past expenses.

Hartman confirmed that a new postal law will be introduced by year-end, ie. in the next couple of weeks or so, which Mart Mägi at Eesti Post has said hopefully will establish a cost-based fee for sustainability.

Arguments for keeping a universal postal service going include that many older people in more outlying parts of the country are not as tech savvy as others and so would be denied the right to the same degree of information, in the form of newspapers for instance, as the rest of the population.

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