From 1 January 2012, the Slovak postal market will be liberalised.
Currently the only universal postal service provider is Slovenská poata, a.s. (Slovak Post), which will lose its monopoly over the collection and distribution of:
- correspondence and direct mail up to 50g
- official summonses (ie documents requiring personal service on parties to litigation and administrative proceedings)
This monopoly right was given to Slovak Post to compensate for its having a statutory obligation to operate mail collections and deliveries in distant (uneconomic) parts of the country where other postal service providers did not want to operate.
The third EU postal directive requires this monopoly to be removed so that a universal service can be provided by other postal service providers in addition to Slovak Post. It will be replaced by a compensation fund to which all other postal service providers will be required to contribute.
Other changes being introduced by the new legislation include a requirement for all postal service providers to be registered with the Postal Regulatory Office (it will no longer be a free trade). Even those already registered must re-register in order to continue carrying on their businesses.
Law: Act no. 324/2011 on postal services and on amending and supplementing certain acts, Directive 2008/6/EC dated 20 February 2008
This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq
Law-Now information is for general purposes and guidance only. The information and opinions expressed in all Law-Now articles are not necessarily comprehensive and do not purport to give professional or legal advice. All Law-Now information relates to circumstances prevailing at the date of its original publication and may not have been updated to reflect subsequent developments.
The original publication date for this article was 04/11/2011.
