FAS DEMANDED RUSSIAN POST TO ENSURE EQUAL CONDITIONS FOR PROVISION OF POSTAL SERVICES

The Federal Antimonopoly Service issued a warning to the Russian Post to stop collecting surcharges to tariffs for postal services in hard-to-reach localities

Since October 1, 2019, the Russian Post has established¹ an additional extra charge of 100% to the amount of payment for the entire weight of the parcel. This applies if parcels are sent to/from post offices located in built-up areas that are difficult to access all year round.

The Antimonopoly authority reviewed the conditions for sending mail to remote localities at a regulated rate, which does not apply to the surcharge, and for parcel forwarding services to which such a surcharge applies.

The FAS Russia found the signs of violation² of the Law on Protection of Competition by unjustified surcharge in the framework of a single technological process.

“The surcharge imposed on the price of postal services is economically and technologically unjustified, and citizens living in certain localities should not pay twice as much for sending parcels as their neighbors,” said Elena Zaeva, Head of the Department for Regulation of Communications and Information Technology of the FAS Russia.

Russian Post JSC should execute the warning within 10 working days from the date of its receipt.

Notes:

¹ by Orders No. 501-p and No. 502-p of September 27, 2019

² Paragraph 6 of the Part 1 of the Article 10 of the Federal Law No. 135-FZ “On Protection of Competition” of July 26, 2006