Postal Services Bill

Page 15, line 34, at end insert—

“(ca) a notification condition (see section (Notification condition)),”

Page 16, line 10, at end insert “before the end of a reasonable period and for its provision to continue to be efficient at all subsequent times”

Page 16, line 10, at end insert “, and

“( ) the need to avoid regulatory intervention where effective competition exists”

Page 16, line 10, at end insert—

“( ) The reference in subsection (3)(a) to the need for a provision of a universal postal service to be financially sustainable includes the need for a reasonable commercial rate of return for any universal service provider on any expenditure incurred by it for the purpose of, or in connection with, the provision by it of a universal postal service.”

Page 16, line 10, at end insert—

“( ) In subsection (3)(b) “a reasonable period” means such period beginning with the day on which the provisions of this Part come generally into force as OFCOM consider, in all the circumstances, to be reasonable.”

Page 16, line 14, at end insert—

“( ) The Secretary of State may direct OFCOM to take, or refrain from taking, specified action for the purpose of securing that, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, sufficient access points are provided throughout the United Kingdom to meet the interests of the public.

( ) The duty imposed on OFCOM as a result of subsection (4) is subject to any direction given under this section.

( ) The action that may be specified in a direction under this section includes the imposition of a regulatory condition consisting of or including provision specified in the direction.

( ) Before giving a direction under this section, the Secretary of State must consult OFCOM.”

Line 4, after “points” insert “and post office outlets”

Page 16, line 17, at end insert—

“( ) The Secretary of State shall ensure that the current designated universal service provider secures an inter-business agreement with Post Office Limited for a period of not less than 10 years from the date at which the provisions of this Part come generally into force.”

Page 19, line 9, after “be” insert “highly”

Page 19, line 16, at beginning insert “Following a period of not less than five years from the date on which this Part comes generally into force,”

Page 19, line 27, at end insert—

“( ) Where the Secretary of State makes such an order within 5 years of this Part coming into force, the Secretary of State shall not make an order which diminishes or erodes the minimum requirements of the universal postal service as set out in section 30.”

Page 19, line 30, at end insert “and shall ensure that the prices to the consumer of using the universal postal service are uniform throughout the United Kingdom”

Page 19, line 38, leave out subsection (1) and insert—

“( ) OFCOM must designate a postal operator as universal service provider.”

Insert the following new Clause—

“Indebtedness of potential USP

(1) OFCOM, in designating a postal operator as a universal service provider (USP), must take into account the financial indebtedness as a proportion of the value of the company of any potential USP, and may limit this indebtedness to such a percentage as OFCOM may from time to time determine.

(2) For the purposes of this section—

(a) “financial indebtedness” means, at any time, the aggregate outstanding principal, capital or nominal amount of any indebtedness of the company calculated in accordance with guidelines published by OFCOM, and

(b) “value of the company” means the value of the company’s assets calculated in accordance with guidelines published by OFCOM and taking into account the timing of material transactions affecting that value.”

Insert the following new Clause—

“Requirement for an inter-business agreement

Before making a relevant disposal in relation to a Royal Mail company as referred to in section 2, the Secretary of State shall ensure that there is in force a written agreement between one or more Royal Mail companies and Post Office Limited for a duration of at least 10 years which defines the relationship between Royal Mail companies and Post Office Limited.”

Page 23, line 5, at end insert “, including the cost of meeting the universal service over that network, or part of that network”

Insert the following new Clause—

“Notification condition

(1) OFCOM may impose a notification condition on—

(a) every person providing, or intending to provide, a service within the scope of the universal postal service, or

(b) every person providing, or intending to provide, a service within the scope of the universal postal service of a specified description.

(2) A notification condition is a condition requiring the person to give OFCOM—

(a) advance notice of the person’s intention to provide a letters business on a specified scale (whether or not the person is currently providing a letters business or any other postal service), and

(b) where the person is already providing a letters business on a specified scale, advance notice of the person’s intention to expand the business by a specified extent.

(3) A specified scale or extent may be determined by reference to any specified factor.

(4) The Secretary of State may at any time direct OFCOM to impose a notification condition.

(5) The direction may (but need not) specify some or all of the provision to be contained in the condition.

(6) Where a notification condition applies to a person at a time when the person is not providing a postal service—

(a) Schedule 7 (enforcement of regulatory conditions) is to have effect as if paragraph 7(2) and (3) were omitted and as if, for the purposes of paragraph 11, the person were providing a postal service, and

(b) Schedule 8 (information provisions) is to have effect as if the person were a person falling within paragraph 1(2) and as if, for the purposes of paragraph 8, the person were providing a postal service.

(7) In this section—

“advance notice” means written notice given at least a specified period of time before the person intends to do as mentioned in subsection (2)(a) or (b),

“a letters business” means a postal service which consists in the delivery of letters, and

“specified” mean specified in the notification condition.”

Page 26, line 36, leave out “3” and insert “5”

Page 28, line 1, at end insert—

“( ) A direction under subsection (12) may not require OFCOM to make a procurement determination at any time in the period of 10 years beginning with the day on which this section comes into force unless the universal service provider has agreed to the making of the determination.”

Page 28, line 1, at end insert—

“( ) A direction under subsection (12) must specify that a reasonable period of notice is to be given to a designated provider before any other operator may commence providing any of the postal services required by the universal service obligations.”

Page 31, leave out lines 34 and 35 and insert “every postal operator appropriate to the postal service each provides”

Page 38, line 27, leave out subsections (4) and (5)

Page 39, line 35, at end insert—

““notification condition” has the meaning given by section (Notification condition),”

Page 40, line 31, at end insert—

“( ) Any direction given by the Secretary of State under any provision of this Part—

(a) must be in writing, and

(b) may be varied or revoked by a further direction.”

Page 41, line 39, at end insert—

“( ) the rescue as a going concern of the company subject to the order,”

Page 119, line 13, at end insert—

“( ) Insofar as a postal transfer scheme makes provision of a kind described in sub-paragraph (1), the approval of the Secretary of State of that postal transfer scheme, or the modification of it by the Secretary of State, shall be by an order subject to negative resolution procedure.”