Key Benefits:
The Autorité de régulation des communications électronique et des postes,
Considering Directive 97/67/EC of 15 December 1997 as amended on common rules for the development of the Community's domestic market for postal services and the improvement of the quality of service;
Having regard to the code of posts and electronic communications, including articles L. 4 and L. 5-2 (5°);
See?Article 2, paragraph 2, of Act No. 90-568 of 2 July 1990 concerning the organization of the public service of La Poste and France Télécom;
Considering the State/Press/Poste Memorandum of Understanding of 23 July 2008;
Having regard to the file describing the tariff changes in the public service delivery and distribution of the press for the year 2010, received from La Poste on 7 August 2009;
Considering the additional information received from La Poste on 16 September 2009;
After deliberating on 15 October,
Pursuant to Article L. 5-2 (5°) of the Post and Electronic Communications Code, the Electronic Communications and Post Regulatory Authority " issues a public opinion on the economic aspects of the tariffs referred to in the second paragraph of Article L. 4, prior to their approval by the ministers responsible for the posts and the economy". The tariffs referred to in the second paragraph of Article L. 4 are the rates for the services offered to the press under the public service for the transport and distribution of the press and subject to the specific regime provided by the postal and electronic communications code. The objective of these benefits is to promote pluralism, including political and general information.
In January 2008, the Government entrusted Mr.Marc Schwartz with a task of reflection and proposal regarding the delivery of press subscriptions by postage or by porting.
This mission led to the signing of a memorandum of understanding on 23 July 2008. This agreement, which covers a seven-year period from January 2009 to December 2015, is part of an objective of information pluralism and takes into account the full openness to the competition of the postal market by 2011.
The Schwartz Agreements of 23 July 2008 set a tariff revalorization plan based on annual increases; increases are identical for all emergency levels, but the agreement provides a different path for political and general information publications on the one hand, and for newspapers with low advertising resources on the other.
In January 2009, in the general press states, emergency measures were announced by the Government to overcome the effects of the crisis on the press. Thus, the State decided to neutralize the effects of the tariff increases of the postal subscription of the press for the year 2009. To implement this one-year report, La Poste adapted its billing system; the invoices were established at the 2009 Schwartz agreements with a discount that reduces the total price to be paid to the level that would have been due in 2008 on equivalent deposits. This report has no impact on La Poste's press account because the Government has committed itself to compensate for La Poste's lack of income.
The Authority for the regulation of electronic communications and postings received the description of the tariff developments envisaged by La Poste for the year 2010. This file includes information to assess the variation in the rates for newspapers and periodical writings in the domestic regime (press releases).
I. ― Evolution of applicable rates
to newspapers and periodic writings in the domestic regime
The Post changed its tariff grid in accordance with the provisions of the Schwartz Agreement, both from the point of view of its structure and with respect to its revalorization and indexation. The structure of the tariff grid is defined according to the emergency level, the level of consignment preparation and options.
I-1. Structure of the tariff grid
Press publishers may choose, according to the characteristics of their publications, according to their dissemination policy and according to their technical capacity to prepare and transport their shipments, among the different terms of the basic offer and among the options proposed.
Basic rates
The basic rates for the services offered by La Poste under the public service for the transport and distribution of the press are determined by:
- emergency level:
urgent press (book in J / J + 1);
- non-urgent press (booking in J + 4);
• economic press (book in J + 7);
the degree of consignment preparation:
― "direct mass factor": constitution of 6 copies (this number may be reduced to 4 or 5 provided that the bundle weighs at least 400 g) per factor tour number;
― "direct liasse postal code": constitution of liasses of 6 minimum copies per postal code (this number can be reduced to 4 or 5 provided that the liasse weighs at least 800 g);
― "department to be sorted": constitution of 6 copies (this number can be reduced to 4 or 5 provided that the bundle weighs at least 800 g) and 8 kg maximum (6 kg for the liars under film) per side (trigger) of mail processing centre, by mail processing centre where the number of copies per side is insufficient;
― "every France to sort": copies embed in a route file, simple computer sequence of copies according to the postal code for small files or non-red files;
– the mechanic or non-mechanical character of the press product with respect to the technical specifications issued by La Poste.
The tariff grid is developed from the "Direct Postal Code Liasse" tariff, which is the pivotal tariff. The coefficients to be applied for 2010 are as follows:
| Direct dial postal code | 100.0 |
| Direct fat factor | 91.0 |
| Mechanical sorting department | 117.6 |
| Non-mechanical sorting department | 122.4 |
| All France to trier mecanisable | 161.7 |
| All France to trier non mecanisable | 168.3 |
Options
Press shipments can access one or more options to get discounts. Five options are available:
― advance deposit: deposit made, on a regular basis, at least three hours before deposit time (emergency press, off-to-day);
― hollow day deposit: deposit made on Mondays and Tuesdays (press and press at economic rate);
― delivery to the sorting centre ( destination mail processing centre): delivery of the entire traffic to a destination mail processing centre, for all copies distributed on the geographic area served by this centre;
― delivery to the distribution centre ( destination distribution establishment): delivery, in a distribution establishment listed in the terms of reference, of the entire traffic intended for the distribution area served by that establishment;
― hollow day distribution: distribution of consignments on Tuesday (emergency press off-to-day).
The optional fare is calculated from the rate of the same non-optional preparation level, expressed in base 100. The scale proposed by La Poste for 2010 is as follows:
| Early deposit (except daily press) | 98.0 |
| Deposit in hollow day | 98.0 |
| Delivery to CTC/PPDC | 98.0 |
| Delivery in destination distribution facility CDIS/PDC | 96.0 |
| Daily distribution (out of daily press) | 98.0 |
I-2. Re-adjustment of the tariff grid
The Schwartz agreements provide for an update of the tariff grid on a tariff revalorization path and inflation. For the generality of the titles allowed for the benefit of the CPPAP regime (a parity commission of publications and press agencies), a 3.5% increase will be applied to the rates of each of the three emergency levels in addition to the evolution of the prices of ― 0.52%, value of the index of consumer prices off tobacco between June 2008 (118,95) and June 2009 (118.33). An overall increase of 2.95 per cent is applied to the pivotal rate of the Direct Postcode Liasse.
II. ― Analysis of the Authority
The Authority has reviewed the compliance of the press tariffs under the Schwartz Agreements and observes that the 2010 tariff grid transmitted by La Poste complies with the following:
1° The revalorization implemented is the one provided by the Schwartz agreements (Table 1 in the annex);
2° The rate modulation coefficients for 2010 were taken into account (Table 2 in Appendix), as well as those for options (Table 3 in Appendix);
3° the revalorisation of ― 0.52% decided by La Poste effectively corresponds to the annual evolution of the index of prices to tobacco consumption between June 2008 and June 2009.
According to article L. 5-2 (4°), the Autorité's analysis focuses on the "economic aspects" of the press tariffs.
In this context, the Autorité considers that the pricing of press consignments should, in the long term, reflect the costs, with the supplement provided by the aid of the State whose reason to be due to the specific obligation to "facilitate pluralism, especially that of political and general information". Indeed, pursuant to Article L.2 of the Post and Electronic Communications Code, the delivery of periodical shipments falls under the universal postal service, one of which is to present transparent, affordable and cost-oriented tariffs (directive 97/67/EC, considering 26 and article 12). It notes that this objective is one of the Schwartz Agreements: "The combination of the reduction of postal costs, tariff measures and the financial contribution of the State, as provided for in this Protocol, should cover, at the end of the agreement, the full costs attributable to the press. This objective is necessary to ensure that the prices of press consignments transmit an economically relevant signal to the entire market.
The Autorité notes that the tariff trajectory programmed by the Schwartz agreements is maintained, but that the effect of these increases for publishers was cancelled in 2009 due to a very difficult economic situation for this sector. The Autorité notes that this shift was neutral for the La Poste press account in 2009, thanks to compensation paid by the State.
In light of the information contained in the La Poste tariff file and the inclusion in the 2010 financial bill of €28 million, in addition to the annual grant of €242 million provided for in the Schwartz agreements, the Autorité understands that the same mechanism could be implemented in 2010.
The whole then comes back to shifting the implementation of the agreements by publishers a year. The Autorité emphasizes that it would then be appropriate to ensure that the shift does not interfere with the efforts undertaken to develop the press services.
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This notice will be forwarded to the Minister of Economy, Industry and Employment and to the Minister to the Minister of Economy, Industry and Employment, responsible for the industry. It will be published in the Official Journal of the French Republic.
Done in Paris, October 15, 2009.
A N N E X E
TABLE 1
| Tariff developments | + 3% | + 3.5 per cent | + 4% | + 4.5 per cent | + 5% | + 5% | + 5% |
TABLE 2
| Level of preparation: « Direct letter postal code » | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Level of preparation: « Direct Liasse factor » compared to "Direct Postal Code Liasse" | 91.5 | 91 | 90.5 | 90 | 8.5 | 89 | 89 |
| Level of preparation: "Department A trier mecanisable" compared to "Liasse direct postal code" | 117.6 | 117.6 | 117.6 | 117.6 | 118.3 | 119.1 | 119.1 |
| Level of preparation: "Department A trier non mecanisable" | 122.4 | 122.4 | 122.4 | 122.4 | 123.1 | 123.9 | 123.9 |
| Level of preparation: « All France A trier mecanisable » compared to « Direct Liasse postal code » | 161.7 | 161.7 | 161.7 | 161.7 | 162.4 | 163.2 | 163.2 |
| Level of preparation: « All France A trier non mecanisable » compared to « Direct dial postal code » | 168.3 | 168.3 | 168.3 | 168.3 | 169.0 | 168,8 | 168,8 |
TABLE 3
| 1. Deposit options: | | | |
| ― early deposit (emergency press out of daily press) | 98.0 | 98.0 | 98.0 |
| ― hollow day deposit (press and economic press) | 98.0 | 98.0 | 98.0 |
| 2. Transport options: | | | |
| ― delivery destination mail processing center or PPDC | 98.5 | 98.0 | 97.0 |
| – delivery to CDIS/PDC destination distribution facility | 97.0 | 96.0 | 95.0 |
| 3. Distribution option: | | | |
| ― hollow day distribution (emergency press out of daily press) | 98.0 | 98.0 | 98.5 |
The president,
J.-L. Silicani
