§ Mr. WilsonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will state the position of Her Majesty's Government on(a) liberalisation of postal services and (b) implementation of the single market in postal services.
§ Mr. EggarThe Government made it clear in their consultation document "The Future of Postal Services"— Cmnd2614, June 1994—that they favoured the progressive introduction of further competition in postal services, provided this did not put at risk the Royal Mail's ability to maintain a universal service at a uniform and affordable tariff.
As regards the European single market, the European Commission itself produced a Green Paper—Com(91)476, June 1992. This acknowledged that a fully harmonised market in postal services was unlikely as each member state would wish to impose restrictions on competition in postal services, in order to ensure the continued ability of the national postal service to meet its social obligations. It made a number of proposals, however, which were intended to ensure that restrictions on competition were no greater than necessary to fund these social objectives.
The Commission is currently preparing draft directives on postal services as a basis for further discussion. While Her Majesty's Government have no formal position on those directives until they have been published, the United Kingdom has one of the more liberalised postal markets in the European Union and would support moves which would bring similar liberalisation in other member states.
§ Mr. WilsonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if Her Majesty's Government support the use of article 90(3) EU to define the list of reserved postal services; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. EggarThe Government would prefer that all directives implementing the single market in postal services should have as their legal basis article 100A of the treaty of Rome.