At its session on 12.12.2019 the Communications Regulation Commission (CRC) considered a postal operator’s letter in which CRC was requested to give an opinion on the following issues:

1. Definitions of §1, p. 28, p. 30 and p. 31 of the Supplementary Provisions (SP) to the Postal Services Act (PSA) in order to distinguish the hypotheses;
2. Definition of §1, p. 29 of the SP to the PSA in the part “…in several settlements according to a specified route and timetable…”, what does this mean exactly;
3. In case that “Mobile post office” may only be available where the postal operator does not have “fixed post offices” (argument §1, p. 29 of the SP to the PSA), is it admissible according to the PSA the service “Postal money order” to be provided at/via “Mobile post office” in settlements where the postal operator has only “Sub-post office” and/or “Outreach post office service point”.

In regard with the above-mentioned letter, CRC expresses the following opinion supported by the Ministry of Transport, Information Technologies and Communications as well: 

1. Regarding to the issue indicated in p.1 of the letter.

According to §1, p. 28 of the SP to the PSA, “Fixed post office” shall be a basic element of the postal networks, organised on separate premises where postal services and other commercial activities are performed by officials of the postal operator through technologically interconnected work stations. According to §1, p. 30 of the SP to the PSA “Sub-post office” shall be an element of the postal networks, organised on a separate premise where the postal operator performs postal services. The provision of §1, p. 31 of the SP to the PSA envisages that “Outreach post office service point” shall be an organised workplace for performance of postal services on a premise on which public services of other type are offered as well. The right to perform postal services shall be granted on the basis of a contract with a particular postal operator.

In view of the above-mentioned, a fixed post office is real property/a building/a floor of a building where premises with particular workplaces for the operators’ employees are located and where not only postal but also other types of commercial activities are performed. The outreach post office service point is only a workplace on a premise located in real property/a building/a floor of building, where not only postal but also other types of public services are offered. 

2. Regarding the issue indicated in p.2 of the letter

According to §1 p. 29 of the SP to the Postal Services Act, “Mobile post office” shall be an element of the postal networks organised on premises on board special-purpose means of transport, where postal operator’s officials perform postal services in several settlements according to a specified route and timetable without fixed post offices. The expression indicated at the end of the sentence of §1, p. 29 of the SP to the PSA “….in several settlements according to a specified route and timetable” means a scheme that has been approved according to the operator’s internal work organisation including: a route along which the mobile post office will move, the specific settlements where the mobile post office will stop in order to perform postal services as well as a timetable including the time (day and hour) when these settlements will be visited and the services in question will be provided. The timetable must be announced publicly by the operator in places open for the consumers as well as it should be published on the operator’s internet website.

3. Regarding the issue indicated in p.3 of the letter

 According to §1, p. 9 of the SP to the PSA, “Postal money orders” (PMO) shall be  postal services for dispatch of paper-based orders through the post offices of a postal operator licensed for performance of these services,  of sums of money from the remitter to the payee. According to §1, p. 4 of the SP to the PSA “Access point” shall be a fixed or a mobile post office, a sub-post office or an outreach post office service point, where senders hand in and the operator accepts, postal items or postal money orders, as well as letter boxes and other facilities provided for the public, placed on the public highway. The provision of §1, p. 29 of the SP to the PSA envisages that a mobile post office may only be available where the postal operator does not have “fixed post offices”. Therefore, there is no legal obstacle to providing the service “PMO” by means of “Mobile post office” in settlements where the postal operator has only “sub-post office” and/or “outreach post office service point” because there is no explicit legal provision within the PSA that prohibits it. The service should be provided in accordance with the legal definition of “postal money orders” of the SP to the PSA as well as in compliance with the requirements of other applicable legal acts (Tax legislation, etc.).