A multitude of institutional barriers to competition are responsible for this stagnation in competition. For instance, under the Postal Services Act, the Federal Network Agency does not have sufficient investigative powers to effectively uncover and subsequently remedy abusive behaviour by the market-dominant Deutsche Post AG (DPAG). The Monopolies Commission has put forward numerous proposals to amend the Postal Services Act.

Among other things, the Monopolies Commission recommends the explicit reintroduction of the ex-ante tariff approval requirement for DPAG’s partial-service tariffs, as access to DPAG’s partial services – given the stagnating volumes of letter post and the increased volume of items posted via this partial service access – is to be regarded as crucial for the future development of competition.

Furthermore, the Monopolies Commission recommends introducing an obligation for DPAG to submit individual contracts with major customers to the Federal Network Agency. Such individual pricing agreements are subject to ex post scrutiny by the Federal Network Agency. However, in order for the Agency to initiate a fee review procedure, it must have reliable evidence of potentially anti-competitive behaviour on the part of DPAG. On its own initiative, however, it cannot inspect contracts other than partial-service contracts.

In the past, the Monopolies Commission has repeatedly criticised the Federal Network Agency’s practice of calculating charges in the letter post sector in its special reports and has called for reductions in postage rates. In its special report presented today, the Monopolies Commission acknowledges the clearly discernible improvements in tariff regulation in this sector. At the same time, however – and against the backdrop of recent media reports on regulatory practice in the postal sector – the Monopolies Commission once again points out that, unlike in the electricity, gas and telecommunications sectors, it has no right to inspect the Federal Network Agency’s files in the context of postal regulation. It once again calls on the legislature to create the legal basis for such a right of access to files for the Monopolies Commission.

The Monopolies Commission points out that, under current legislation, DPAG is no longer obliged to provide the universal service. DPAG provides this service voluntarily as part of its corporate strategy. In the Monopolies Commission’s view, the costs of these voluntarily provided services should neither be passed on to Deutsche Post’s competitors nor lead to a price increase. The Monopolies Commission therefore recommends amending the relevant legal provisions.

The revised rules on VAT exemption still constitute a barrier to competition. Since July 2010, it is no longer DPAG’s turnover directly related to postal services that is exempt from VAT, but only universal services under certain conditions. One of the conditions for the tax exemption is that the postal service provider has undertaken to offer at least one aspect of the universal service nationwide across the entire territory of the Federal Republic of Germany. This means that, in practice, only DPAG can offer universal services exempt from VAT. The Monopolies Commission recommends that the Federal Republic of Germany advocate at European level for an amendment to the VAT System Directive. Article 132(1)(a) of the VAT System Directive, which stipulates that services provided by public postal services and related supplies of goods are exempt from tax, should be deleted. This would create a competitively neutral solution, as all providers would be treated equally for tax purposes in respect of the same service, even if they operate only locally or regionally.

The Monopolies Commission once again opposes the introduction of a sector-specific minimum wage in the postal sector. The collective agreement on minimum wages for the letter delivery sector was declared generally binding by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs by means of a regulation in December 2007. This regulation was declared invalid by the Federal Administrative Court in January 2010. The excessive minimum wage for letter services prevented the development of effective competition in the markets for letter services and constituted a barrier to competition. In view of this anti-competitive effect of the postal minimum wage, the legislature should not grant any new application for a collective agreement on minimum wages to be declared generally binding.