§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to his answer of 13 June 2000,Official Report, columns 595–96W, on letters and packets, if he will list, in respect of each change in weights of letter post made under Directive 97/67 of 1997 and its predecessors, the (a) reasons for such change and the amount concerned, (b) date of its coming into force, (c) consideration by Parliament and (d) Minister of the 371W Crown who gave consent to the directive and changes arising from it, giving the reasons for any such changes. [129596]
§ Mr. Alan JohnsonDirective 97/67 was the first Postal Services Directive passed by the European Commission. It has no predecessors. A memorandum setting out how the Government intended to implement each of the requirements of the EU Directive, including draft postal services regulations, was published for consultation on 8 July 1999. Subsequently, the Postal Services Regulations (S.I. 1999/2107) transposed the Directive into United Kingdom law and amended the Postal Privilege (Suspension Order) 1981/1483 to include the words
either weighs not less than 350 grams or.This had the effect of adding a weight threshold of not less than 350 grams to the existing £1 price threshold in order to be compliant with the Directive. The price threshold was already within the limit required by the Directive of five times public tariff for an item of correspondence in the first weight step of the fastest standard category. The Statutory Instrument was laid before Parliament on 27 July 1999 and came into force on 1 September 1999. The Minister responsible for postal issues at that time was my right hon. Friend the Member for Makerfield (Mr. McCartney), Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry.