Postal Services Bill

House of Commons

Session 2010 - 11
Internet Publications
Other Bills before Parliament

Postal Services Bill

Postal Services Bill
Part 3 — Regulation of postal services
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Postal operators generally
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Notification by postal operators
(1)
The Secretary of State may make regulations requiring persons to notify
OFCOM before they carry on business as postal operators.
(2)
The Secretary of State must consult OFCOM before making the regulations.
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(3)
The regulations may make provision corresponding, with such modifications
as appear to the Secretary of State to be appropriate, to any of the provisions of
sections 33 to 37 of the Communications Act 2003 (requirements to notify
before carrying on a regulated activity).
(4)
The maximum penalty which may be imposed by the regulations for failure to
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comply with any of its provisions must not exceed the maximum penalty for
the time being specified in section 37(6) of that Act.
(5)
OFCOM must establish and maintain a register which records every
notification given to them under the regulations.
(6)
Information recorded in the register must be recorded in such manner as
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OFCOM consider appropriate.
(7)
OFCOM must publish a notice setting out—
(a)
the times at which the register is for the time being available for public
inspection, and
(b)
the fees that must be paid for, or in connection with, an inspection of
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the register.
(8)
The notice must be published in such manner as OFCOM consider appropriate
for bringing it to the attention of the persons who, in their opinion, are likely to
be affected by it.
(9)
OFCOM must make the register available for public inspection—
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(a)
during such hours, and
(b)
on payment of such fees,

as are set out in the notice for the time being in force under subsection (7).
(10)
Regulations under this section are subject to negative resolution procedure.
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Essential conditions
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(1)
OFCOM may impose an essential condition on—
(a)
every postal operator, or
(b)
every postal operator of a description specified in the condition.
(2)
An essential condition is a condition containing such obligations as OFCOM
consider necessary to impose for, or in connection with, any one or more of the
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following purposes—
(a)
safeguarding confidentiality in connection with the sending,
conveyance and delivery of letters,
(b)
safeguarding security where dangerous goods are transported,
(c)
safeguarding the confidentiality of information conveyed,
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(d)
guarding against the theft or loss of or damage to postal packets, and
(e)
securing the delivery of postal packets to the intended addressees.

Postal Services Bill
Part 3 — Regulation of postal services
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General access conditions
(1)
OFCOM may impose a general access condition on a particular postal operator
(or operators).
(2)
A general access condition is a condition requiring the operator to do either or
both of the following—
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(a)
to give access to other postal operators, or users of postal services, to the
operator’s postal infrastructure or any service within the scope of the
universal postal service which it provides, and
(b)
to maintain a separation for accounting purposes between such
different matters relating to access of a kind within paragraph (a)
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(including proposed or potential access of that kind) as OFCOM may
direct.
(3)
An operator’s “postal infrastructure” includes both physical infrastructure
(such as letter boxes) and infrastructure in non-physical form (such as
information relating to postcodes or addresses or arrangements made with
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others for the provision of any service).
(4)
OFCOM may impose a general access condition only if it appears to them that
the condition is necessary for either or both of the following purposes—
(a)
protecting the interests of the users of postal services, and
(b)
promoting effective competition.
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(5)
In deciding what obligations to impose in general access conditions in a
particular case, OFCOM must (in addition to taking into account anything
relevant for the purpose of performing their duty under section 28) take into
account, in particular, the following factors—
(a)
the technical and economic viability, having regard to the state of
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market development, of installing and using facilities that would make
the proposed access unnecessary,
(b)
the feasibility of giving the proposed access,
(c)
the investment made by the postal operator in relation to the matters in
respect of which access is proposed,
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(d)
the need to secure effective competition in the long term, and
(e)
any rights to intellectual property that are relevant to the proposal.
(6)
For the purposes of this section a reference to giving a person access to an
operator’s postal infrastructure includes giving a person an entitlement to use,
be provided with or become a party to any services, facilities or arrangements
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comprised in the infrastructure.
(7)
In Schedule 3—
(a)
Part 1 makes provision about the kind of matters that may be included
in general access conditions, and
(b)
Part 2 makes provision about the resolution of access disputes by
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OFCOM.
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Consumer protection conditions
(1)
OFCOM may impose a consumer protection condition on—
(a)
every postal operator, or
(b)
every postal operator of a specified description.
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Postal Services Bill
Part 3 — Regulation of postal services
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(2)
A consumer protection condition is a condition requiring the operator to do
one or more of the following—
(a)
to assume specified liability in respect of specified loss of or damage to
specified postal packets,
(b)
to establish and maintain procedures, standards and policies with
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respect to consumer protection matters, and
(c)
to make payments relating to qualifying consumer expenses of the
National Consumer Council or the Office of Fair Trading.
(3)
The reference in subsection (2)(b) to consumer protection matters is to—
(a)
the handling of complaints made to postal operators by users of their
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services,
(b)
the resolution of disputes between postal operators and users of their
services,
(c)
the provision of remedies and redress in respect of matters that form
the subject-matter of such complaints or disputes,
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(d)
the information that is to be made available by postal operators to users
of their services about service standards and about the rights of those
users, and
(e)
anything else appearing to OFCOM to be necessary to secure effective
protection for those users.
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(4)
The reference in subsection (2)(c) to qualifying consumer expenses of the
National Consumer Council or the Office of Fair Trading is to—
(a)
such proportion of the expenses of the National Consumer Council as
the Secretary of State considers reasonable having regard to the
functions exercisable by it in relation to users of postal services, and
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(b)
such proportion of the expenses of the Office of Fair Trading incurred
in connection with its support of any public consumer advice scheme
as the Secretary of State considers reasonable having regard to the
functions under the scheme exercisable in relation to those users.
(5)
In imposing a consumer protection condition, OFCOM must (so far as they
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consider appropriate) secure that—
(a)
the procedures for the handling of complaints and the resolution of
disputes are easy to use, transparent and effective and otherwise
facilitate the settling of disputes fairly and promptly,
(b)
users have the right to use those procedures free of charge, and
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(c)
if a postal operator contravenes a consumer protection condition, the
operator follows such procedures as may be required by the condition.
(6)
The Secretary of State may direct OFCOM to include provision within
subsection (2)(c) in consumer protection conditions.
(7)
In this section and section 50 any reference, in relation to postal operators, to
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users of their services is to users of any of the postal services provided by the
operators.
(8)
In this section “specified” means specified in the consumer protection
condition.
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Provision that may be made by consumer protection conditions
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(1)
A consumer protection condition may require postal operators to be members
of an approved redress scheme.

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Part 3 — Regulation of postal services
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(2)
A “redress scheme” is a scheme under which complaints about postal
operators by users of their services may be made to, and investigated and
determined by, a person who is independent of postal operators and OFCOM.
(3)
A redress scheme is “approved” if it is approved by OFCOM in accordance
with Schedule 5.
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(4)
For the purposes of the law relating to defamation, proceedings under an
approved redress scheme are to be treated in the same way as proceedings
before a court.
(5)
A consumer protection condition may require postal operators—
(a)
to provide information to OFCOM with respect to the levels of
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compliance with the standards for the handling of complaints, and
(b)
to publish information about the number of complaints made about
them (whether under an approved redress scheme or otherwise) and
the way in which the complaints have been dealt with.
(6)
Requirements may be contained in the condition as to the times at which, and
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the manner in which, any information is to be published as a result of
subsection (5)(b).
(7)
A consumer protection condition imposed on a universal service provider
must include a requirement within subsection (5)(b).
General provisions
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Imposition, modification or revocation of regulatory conditions
Schedule 6 contains general provision about the imposition of regulatory
conditions and their modification or revocation.
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Enforcement of regulatory requirements
Schedule 7 makes provision for the enforcement of regulatory requirements
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imposed by OFCOM in carrying out their functions in relation to postal
services.
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Information
(1)
Schedule 8 makes provision for requiring information to be provided to
OFCOM for the purpose of carrying out their functions in relation to postal
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services or for related purposes.
(2)
In that Schedule—
(a)
Part 1 makes provision authorising OFCOM to require information to
be provided to them,
(b)
Part 2 makes provision for the enforcement of those requirements, and
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(c)
Part 3 contains supplementary provision.
(3)
Nothing in Schedule 7 to the Postal Services Act 2000 (disclosure of
information) prevents the Postal Services Commission from disclosing
information to OFCOM for the purposes of OFCOM’s functions in relation to
postal services.
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