Post Office (Hansard, 8 July 1999)

§ Mr. Byers

Much of the package of reforms for the Post Office that I have set out in the White Paper I have published today can be implemented without any change in the law. But I propose three pieces of legislation to complete the reform package:

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First, I am today laying an order under Section 69 of the British Telecommunications Act 1981 to reduce the Post Office monopoly to letters for which the post is not more than 50 pence (or which do not weigh more than 150 grams). The new limits will have effect from 1 April 2000. This will supersede the Order made in 1981 to fix the monopoly limit to items costing less than £1 for a period of 25 years, ending in 2006.

Secondly, I am today also making available the draft of a Regulation I propose to make shortly under section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 to implement the European Union Postal Services Directive on common rules for the development of the internal market of Community postal services. As the intention of the Directive is, inter alia, to provide a regulatory framework for postal services and the creation of a national regulatory authority, and to establish common rules for the provision of a universal postal service, the proposed Regulation will establish a new regulatory regime, designating the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and a new Postal Services Commission, that will assume its duties from 1 April 2000, as the national regulatory authorities for the postal sector in the United Kingdom, and to amend the Post Office Act 1969 so as to define in the legislation the minimum levels of service to be provided by the Post Office.

Thirdly, as soon as Parliamentary time permits, I will bring forward primary legislation to consolidate the reform of the Post Office and the postal market. The Bill will ensure that the Post Office can take full and certain advantage of the commercial freedoms proposed in the package; convert the Post Office into a plc to underline the commercialisation of the business (though the legislation will not provide for any disposal of shares without further Parliamentary approval, and in particular no share sale will be possible without further primary legislation); clarify and consolidate the independent regulatory and consumer representative framework, putting it on a basis similar to that for the private utilities; and enable any reduction in the Post Office monopoly to be put on a permanent (rather than temporary) basis.