Key Benefits:
The Autorité de régulation des communications électronique et des postes,
Having regard to the amended Postal Directive 97/67/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 15 December 1997 concerning common rules for the development of the Community's domestic market for postal services and the improvement of the quality of service, including articles 14 and 15;
Having regard to Directive 2002/39/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 June 2002 amending Directive 97/67/EC with regard to the continuation of openness to competition of the Community's postal services;
In view of the Code of Posts and Electronic Communications, including articles L. 2, L. 5-2 (6°), R. 1-1-14 and R. 1-1-15;
After deliberating on 15 May 2007,
Pursuant to the Post and Electronic Communications Code, the Electronic Communications and Post Regulatory Authority is required to ensure universal service, the pricing of services under universal service and the balance of its funding.
For the performance of its duties, the Authority must have sufficient and appropriate accounting information.
The purpose of this decision is to establish the accounting system specifications for the return of La Poste's analytical accounts from fiscal year 2006. It follows a preliminary work with La Poste on the characteristics of the existing accounting system and a public consultation conducted from April 6 to May 4, 2007. It takes into account the capacity of La Poste's accounting system.
I. - THE REGULAR FRAMEWORK
Pursuant to the provisions of Article 14 (1°) of the aforementioned amended Postal Directive 97/67/EC, "The Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that, within two years of the date of entry into force of this Directive, the accounting of the providers of the universal service shall meet the provisions of this Article. »
Under the 2nd of this same article, "Universal service providers hold separate accounts in their internal accounts at least for each of the services included in the reserved area, on the one hand, and for non-reserved services on the other. Non-reserved service accounts must distinguish between services that are part of the universal service and those that are not part of it. This internal accounting is based on the consistent application of the principles of accounting, which can be objectively justified (...)".
Transposing the provisions of this article, Article L. 5-2 (6°) of the Post and Electronic Communications Code states that the Authority, " (...) 6° In order to implement the principles of separation and transparency of accounts, in particular to ensure the conditions of financing of the universal service, specify the rules of accounting for costs, establish the specifications of accounting systems and ensure that the provider of the universal service complies with the obligations relating to accounting set out in the decree provided for in Article L. 2. In this capacity, in the field of universal service, the authority receives the results of the audits of the auditors, without the possibility of opposing professional secrecy. It shall, at the expense of the universal service provider, verify annually by an organization that it has approved, competent and independent of the universal service provider, the conformity of the accounts of the universal service provider with the rules it has established. It ensures the publication of a declaration of conformity, through the care of the accredited independent body (...)".
With regard to these Community provisions and the Post and Electronic Communications Code, the Electronic Communications and Post Control Authority is competent to establish the accounting system specifications.
II. - WARNING RESTITUTIONS
The principles followed by the Authority
The Authority has determined the format of the restitutions, taking into account both the requirements for the effective implementation of its missions and the capacities of the La Poste accounting system.
To the extent possible, the AMF has focused on a forward-looking approach in such a way that the restitutions requested have a certain character of sustainability. As a result, they aim not only to meet short-term needs of the Authority, such as those related to tariff control in a partial monopoly context, but also to provide useful economic information from a medium-term perspective.
According to the provisions of Article R. 1-1-16 of the Post and Electronic Communications Code: "The Post provides the information that the Electronic Communications and Post Regulatory Authority requests for the performance of its missions and the exercise of its control of the Universal Postal Service. The requests of the Authority are motivated and proportionate to its needs; they specify the level of detail of the response and the deadlines to produce it (...)".
The communication under this decision is annual and systematic. Such communication is necessary for the Authority to assess, on the basis of economicly relevant and standardized information, the economic conditions in which La Poste ensures the universal postal service and, more generally, intervenes on the market. In this way, it meets the obligation made by the code to the Authority to economically motivate its opinions and analyses.
This annual communication, allowing for a certain visibility and consistency of returns, ensures better efficiency in the control by the Authority of the compliance with La Poste's obligations.
An ex ante production also allows the review of the corresponding returns by the accredited independent body, which is a guarantee of reliability.
It does not exempt La Poste from the obligation referred to in R. 1-1-16.
Expected dismissals of the accounting system
In view of its needs, the Autorité considers it essential:
- that the regulatory restitutions established by La Poste be more clearly articulated with the accounts of the public institution and the consolidated accounts of the group;
- that the exposed costs explain a relevant segmentation logically reflecting the cutting of the production chain, that is, in practice, the following processes: window, collection, tri-transit, transport, internal work, external work, other costs;
- that they allow the establishment of operating accounts by product and not only separate accounts.
In these restitutions, the associated costs are consistent with the calculation method used by La Poste to the costs associated with a direct or indirect causal link to the scope examined. Accessibility costs are distinguished.
The main expected results are explained below.
1° Results by regulatory sectors
This accounting return (R 1) is a simplification of the return already produced for the years 2000 to 2005 and is intended to display in a comprehensive manner, i.e. without reference to specific benefits, the economic balance of the universal service by distinguishing the postal monopoly and the media transport. It participates in the verification of compliance with the rule that the resources derived from the postal monopoly should not finance other activities except those that come from the universal service.
2° Decomposition of the formation of the result
La Poste, public institution
The universal service corresponds to courier and parcel services, each of which includes products that do not fall under universal service. The published accounts of the public institution provide the distribution of revenue between the "mail" trades, "package" and other activities, but not the distribution of the margin between these two trades.
Given the strong misunderstanding between La Poste's trades and the components of the universal service, it is necessary to have a restitution allowing, on the one hand, to appreciate the possible transfers between the universal service and the rest of the activities carried out by the public institution and, on the other hand, to place in terms of income, costs and margin the benefits of the universal postal service within the trades to which they relate.
This is the object of restitution R 2.
3° Cost breakdown by nature
Pursuant to Article L. 5-2 (3°) of the Post and Electronic Communications Code, the Authority "[...] decides, after consideration of La Poste's proposal or, in the absence of a proposal, ex officio after informing it, of the characteristics of multi-year supervision of the rates of benefits of the universal service that may, if necessary, distinguish the shipments in number of the emulated shipments and ensure their respect".
The objective of this decision is not to determine the multi-year pricing framework characteristics. However, it is necessary for the Authority to have a knowledge of the loads by nature, taking into account the dynamics specific to each, to have a reference history. This is the object of restitution R 3.
4° Decomposition of the outcome of the universal service
The postal service is based on various industrial processes (guichet, collection, tri-transit, transport, interior work, external work) with distinct economic and competitive characteristics. The cost-making rules used by La Poste consist in the allocation of these process costs to the various products marketed taking into account the specific characteristics of each product (degree of preparation, degree of urgency, weight and size).
It is therefore useful to explain and encrypt, on a reasonable level of synthesis, the imputation of the cost of the different processes to the main product categories to:
- to show the economic weight of industrial processes and the effect of allocation rules on the costs allocated to major product categories;
- to reveal the effects of changes in the allocation rules over time.
Such restitution also allows:
- to ensure completeness: the cost of each process must be fully allocated to all products using this process;
- to establish a benchmark and benchmark data for accounts per product.
This is the subject of restitution R 4.
The product categories selected aim, without exceeding the capacity of the accounting system to be audited, to represent a segmentation of usage that is sustainable and relevant. They refer for some to homogeneous groups of commercial products, but La Poste may, if any, adapt the segmentation advocated by explaining the criteria it proposes.
5° Decomposition of costs of major posting benefits
The production of an operating account for each of the major commercial products of La Poste allows a margin rate for a specific commercial product and thus participates in the control of the degree of tariff orientation to costs.
The Autorité has taken into account the constraint mentioned by La Poste that the production of this type of restitution, when it is related to a specific commercial product, requires extra-comptable construction from elements traced by accounting.
As a result, the Autorité has retained at this stage a simple specification of the R5 restitution format. It will request the communication for a specific product under the provisions of Article R. 1-1-16 of the Post and Electronic Communications Code.
However, she now asks La Poste to produce and communicate the operating accounts according to this format for the ordinary letter of less than 20 grams, freed by post figurines and the ordinary Colissimo, these products constituting two important elements of the universal postal service as well as for the Economic Press which corresponds to a commitment of the Paul agreement.
Decides:
Effective fiscal year 2006, La Poste produces and communicates to the Electronic Communications and Positions Regulatory Authority no later than July 1 of the year following the fiscal year ended and, for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2006, no later than September 1, 2007, restitutions 1 to 4 specified in Appendix 1 to this decision covering:
1. Results by regulatory sectors, in accordance with Schedule 1, restitution 1;
2. The decomposition of the formation of the result of La Poste public institution, in accordance with Appendix 1, restitution 2;
3. The decomposition of costs by nature, in accordance with Schedule 1, restitution 3;
4. The decomposition of the formation of the outcome of the universal service in accordance with Appendix 1, restitution 4.
Returns 1 to 4 referred to in Article 1 are verified by the registered independent body referred to in Article L. 5-2 (6°) of the code and give rise to a declaration of conformity on its part.
The Post provides, at the request of the Electronic Communications and Post Regulatory Authority, the operating account for the main postal services established according to the model of restitution 5 specified in annex 2 to this decision.
Effective in the 2006 accounting year, La Poste produces and communicates to the Authority for the regulation of electronic communications and posts, no later than 1 July of the year following the closing of the fiscal year and, for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2006, no later than 1 September 2007, the operating accounts relating to the ordinary letter TP less than 20 grams, to the ordinary Colissimo and to the Economic Press according to the model of restitution 5 specified
The Director General is responsible for the execution of this decision, which will be notified to La Poste and published in the Official Journal of the French Republic.
A N N E X E 1
RESTITUTION R 1
You can see the table in the OJ
n° 231 of 05/10/2007 text number 67
RESTITUTION R 2
You can see the table in the OJ
n° 231 of 05/10/2007 text number 67
RESTITUTION R 3
You can see the table in the OJ
n° 231 of 05/10/2007 text number 67
RESTITUTION R 4
You can see the table in the OJ
n° 231 of 05/10/2007 text number 67
A N N E X E 2
RESTITUTION R 5
You can see the table in the OJ
n° 231 of 05/10/2007 text number 67
Done in Paris, May 15, 2007.
The president,
P. Champsaur
