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19 AVRIL 2014. - An Act to amend the Act of 21 March 1991 to reform certain economic public enterprises (1)

PHILIPPE, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The Chambers adopted and We sanction the following:
Article 1^er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 78 of the Constitution.
Art. 2. In section 131 of the Act of 21 March 1991 on the reform of certain economic public enterprises, replaced by the Act of 13 December 2010, are inserted the following 4° bis to 4° sexies:
"4° bis postal service point: a post office, a postal store or a postal stoppage;
4° ter post office: a postal service point operated by bpost that offers the client at least the full range of services, that is:
(a) the basic assortment;
(b) the execution of operations relating to the basic banking service as defined by the Act of 24 March 2003 establishing a basic banking service;
(c) the payment of national mandates;
(d) the sale, reimbursement, replacement and exchange of fishing licences;
(e) acceptance of payments on accounts open to bpost or other financial institutions;
(f) the cash withdrawal of an account regardless of the proposed method;
(g) payment of assignments -P;
(h) the receipt of payment transfer ballots from a clean account;
4° quater postal store: a postal service point operated by a third party, where the third party executes the public services of which bpost entrusted the execution (in the name and for the bpost account);
4° quinquies halte postale: a postal service point or any other point of contact with the client where bpost staff propose to the client at least the basic assortment for a limited number of hours;
4° basic sexies: the following services:
(a) receipt of egregated mail and individual mail parcels that are part of the universal postal service, with the exception of shipments with declared value;
(b) the preservation and delivery of individual recommended shipments and individual postal parcels that are part of the universal postal service and for which a notice was given following an unsuccessful home presentation;
(c) the sale of postage stamps;
(d) acceptance of cash payments of up to 500 euros, with a structured statement, on an account with bpost or a financial institution;
(e) to the extent possible, a minimum number of packagings for postal shipments and parcels will be available for sale. "
Art. 3. Section 140 of the Act, as amended by the Act of 13 December 2010, is replaced by the following:
The social object of bpost includes:
(a) the collection, transport and distribution of mail, parcels and other physical goods and the operation of all postal, transport and logistics services;
(b) provision of paper or digital communications, certification, data, printing and document management services;
(c) provision of postal financial services and other financial, banking and payment services;
(d) the operation of retail activities of third-party goods or services;
(e) all activities, including in new business sectors, regardless of the nature of these activities or business sectors, intended to directly or indirectly improve the services of the company or, more generally, to contribute directly or indirectly to the development of the activities referred to in (a) to (d) above or to enable the optimal use of the infrastructure and/or personnel of the company. "
Art. 4. In section 141 of the Act, replaced by the Act of 1^er April 2007 and amended by the Act of 13 December 2010, the first paragraph is replaced by the following:
§ 1^er. bpost is responsible for the following public service missions throughout the Kingdom:
A. The maintenance, in order to ensure territorial and social cohesion, of a network of proximity configured as follows:
1° This network shall be composed of at least 1300 postal service points, of which at least one in each commune of the country as necessary for the fulfilment of the obligations on bpost for the purpose of the implementation of the universal postal service under Article 142, § 2, 1°;
2° the postal service points referred to in 1° shall include at least 650 post offices, of which at least one in each municipality of the country; and
3° at least 95 percent of the population must have access to a postal service point offering the basic assortment that is located at a road distance of not more than five kilometers, and at least 98 percent of the population must have access to such a postal service point located at a road distance of not more than 10 kilometers.
B. Delivery of the following postal financial services:
1° the receipt of cash deposits on a postal current account and the execution of payments from or on that account;
2° receipt of cash deposits to be credited to a current postal account or account with a financial institution; and
3° the issuance and payment of national mail orders.
C. The home payment of retirement and survival pensions and social security benefits to persons with disabilities.
D. The development of the social role of factors, particularly in the case of isolated and destitute persons, and in the service "SVP factor".
E. Information to the public at the request of the competent public authority.
F. Sending to reduced rates of correspondence sent by non-profit foundations and associations.
G. Distribution of mail shipments to letters submitted to the port franchise regime."
Art. 5. In section 141 of the Act, replaced by the Royal Decree of 9 June 1999 and amended by the laws of 1^er April 2007 and 13 December 2010^erbis as follows:
§ 1^erbis. Other public service missions may be assigned, either to bpost, by its management contract, or to bpost or a third party, by a specific agreement.
Public service missions other than those listed in Article 141, § 1^er, A. to G. that are likely to be issued in accordance with the preceding paragraph, under the conditions provided for in the management contract or in the specific agreement, may include subscription service for recognized newspapers and recognized periodical writings.
When the execution of these missions would not be carried out or would not be carried out under the same conditions without consideration, compensation shall be awarded to the State budget.
When bpost or third party has not been designated as part of an allocation procedure to select a candidate capable of providing these services at least cost to the community, section 141ter applies mutatis mutandis to compensation.
For public service missions referred to in the second paragraph of this § 1^erbis, the management contract or the specific convention shall:
1 the definition of public service obligations and the operational modalities for the execution of these missions;
2° the rules of conduct for users;
3° where applicable, the objective and transparent parameters on which compensation is calculated; and
4°, where applicable, the provisional amounts and the payment of compensation, as the case may be, referred to in section 141ter."
Art. 6. In the same law, an article 141bis is inserted as follows:
"Art. 141bis. § 1^er. For each of the public service missions referred to in Article 141, § 1^er, A., B. and C., the King, by order deliberately in Council of Ministers, defines:
1st the main modalities for the execution of the mission; and
2° where applicable, the principles governing the setting of rates for services provided by bpost to users.
§ 2. The King may, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, define the modalities for each of the public service missions referred to in Article 141, § 1^er, D. to G."
Art. 7. In the same Act, an article 141ter is inserted as follows:
"Art. 141ter. § 1^er. For the execution of public service missions referred to in Article 141, § 1^er, A., B. and C., which cause a net cost to bpost, bpost receives compensation from the state budget. This compensation is the sum of the following:
1° the net cost of carrying out the mission in question, calculated on the basis of actual costs incurred and actual revenue received by bpost and using the method of net cost avoided;
2° a reasonable profit, in terms of operating margin, fixed in particular according to the degree of risk incurred by bpost in the execution of the mission in question; and
3° the positive or negative result of an incentive mechanism for efficiency,
on the understanding that any compensation is subject to the overall ceiling set by the management contract for all compensation received by bpost for public service missions.
§ 2. The King, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, defines:
1° the method of calculating each of the parameters referred to in § 1^er;
2° the procedures to be followed for the establishment of the provisional and final amounts of the compensation; and
3° the terms of control of compensation and recovery of a possible overcompensation. "
Art. 8. In the same Act, an article 141quater is inserted as follows:
"Art. 141quater. For public service missions referred to in Article 141, § 1^er, A. to G., the management contract regulates the following:
1 the operational modalities for the execution of these missions;
2° the rules of conduct for users; and
3° the provisional amounts and the terms and conditions of payment of compensation referred to in section 141ter."
Art. 9. In the same Act, an article 141quinquies is inserted as follows:
"Art. 141quinquies. bpost is responsible for the public service missions listed in Article 141, § 1^er, A. to G. until December 31, 2015. "
Art. 10. In the same law, an article 141sexies is inserted as follows:
"Art. 141sexies. The King may, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, define the modalities relating to:
1° to the offer of a reduced rate for electoral printed materials sent or not sent;
2° in the service of administrative correspondence such as treatment, conditioning and distribution, and the terms of deferred retribution including the rights and mandatory mentions;
3° to the processing of correspondence from or addressed to military personnel; and
4° at the service of subscriptions for recognized newspapers and recognized periodical writings concerning the application, port and administrative fees, as well as, inter alia, technical completion, mandatory mentions, deposit conditions and supplements. The King also determines by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers the criteria such as the periodicity and the level of information required to which consignments must meet to be recognized as a journal or periodical. "
Art. 11. In section 148, 1°, of the same law, as amended by the Royal Decree of 3 March 2011, the words "(other than a public authority referred to in section 42)" are inserted between the words "in an institution" and the words "within direct or indirectly 25% of the capital of such an institution".
Art. 12. In Article 148bis/1^er of the same law, replaced by the Royal Decree of 13 December 2005, a paragraph 5 is inserted as follows:
§ 5. By derogation from Article 18, § 3, the ordinary members of the board of directors of bpost are appointed for a renewable term of up to four years."
Art. 13. This Act comes into force on 1^er the day following its publication to the Belgian Monitor, with the exception of Article 3 which produces its effects on May 29, 2013.
Promulgate this Act, order that it be put on the State Seal and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels on 19 April 2014.
PHILIPPE
By the King:
Minister of Public Enterprises,
J.-P. LABILLE
Seal of the state seal:
The Minister of Justice,
Ms. A. TURTELBOOM
____
Note
(1) Session 2013-2014.
House of Representatives
Documents. - 53-3402:
Number 1: Bill.
Number two: Erratum.
Number three: Report.
No. 4: Text adopted in plenary and transmitted to the Senate.
Full report: 27 March 2014
Senate
Documents. - 5-2821:
Number 1: Project referred to by the Senate.
Number two: Report.
No. 3: Decision not to amend.
Annales of the Senate: April 3, 2014.