Key Benefits:
Communications Regulatory Authority Electronic and postal services,
Having regard to Directive 97 /67/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 1997 amended concerning common rules for the development of the internal market in Community postal services and improvement of the quality of service;
In view of the postal code and electronic communications, and In particular its Articles L. 1, L. 2 and R. 1-1;
Given the 3 ° of the II of Article 1635 sexies of the general tax code ;
Seen Law n ° 90-568 of 2 July 1990 as amended on the public service of the postal service and France Télécom, in particular its article 6;
Vu la Act n ° 95-115 of February 4, 1995 changed direction for spatial planning and development;
Seen Order No. 2006-1239 dated October 11, 2006 La Poste à l' aménagement du territoire;
In view of Opinion n ° 2010-0902 of the Electronic Communications Regulatory Authority and of the posts of 22 July 2010 concerning the draft order made pursuant to Article 6 of the Law of No 90-568 of 2 July 1990, as amended specifying the method of calculation of the net cost of the complementary mesh allowing La Poste to carry out its mission of spatial planning;
Seen decree n ° 2011-849 of 18 July 2011 specifying the method of calculation The net cost of the complementary mesh allowing La Poste to carry out its spatial planning mission;
In view of Decision No. 2011-1081 of 22 September 2011 on the evaluation for the year 2010 of the net cost of the complementary mesh Allowing La Poste to carry out its mission of spatial planning;
Given the reply of La Poste as of 19 October 2012 to the questionnaire sent by the Electronic Communications and Postal Regulatory Authority on 15 October 2012 ;
Seen the ARCEP public consultation on intangible benefits La Poste is likely to benefit from its obligation of territorial presence, carried out between 12 June and 13 July 2012;
In application of IV of Section 6 of Law No. 90-568 of 2 July 1990 , as amended, the Electronic Communications Regulatory Authority And posts (hereinafter " ARCEP ") Is loaded " To evaluate each year the net cost of the complementary mesh to ensure the spatial planning mission entrusted to La Poste ". Href=" /viewTexteArticle.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000024377338&idArticle=JORFARTI000024377349 &categorieLink = cid"> article 2 of decree n ° 2011-849 of 18 July 2011 states that " The net cost of this complementary mesh is equal to the cost avoided in its absence, decreased revenue lost in its absence. "
This Decision implements this method of calculation for the year 2011 (i) by identifying the complementary mesh, (ii) by evaluating the avoided cost in its absence (iii) and the lost revenue. It is the second evaluation by ARCEP of the net cost of complementary mesh (1).
I. -Regulatory framework
La Poste is subject to obligations relating to the size and organisation of its network of points of contact. These obligations derive in particular from an accessibility constraint linked to the status of provider of the postal universal service of La Poste.
Article L. 2 of the Postal and Electronic Communications Code (CPCE) provides that " The post office is the universal postal service provider for a period of fifteen years from 1 January 2011." Article L. 1 of the CPCE specifies in particular that the Universal postal service contributes to social cohesion and balanced development of the territory. It is ensured in accordance with the principles of equality, continuity and adaptability by seeking the best economic and social efficiency. It shall guarantee to all users, on a permanent basis and throughout the national territory, postal services meeting specified quality standards'.
Article R. 1-1 of the CPCE, taken in accordance with Article L. 2 of the same Code, Specifies that " The points of contact with the public giving access to universal service benefits other than the number and the information on those services must allow at least 99 % of the national population and at least 95 % of the population Each department is less than 10 kilometres from a point of contact and all communes with more than 10 000 inhabitants have at least one point of contact per 20 000 inhabitants. "
In addition to this obligation Accessibility, La Poste deploys a mesh said " Complementary " Whose points of contact, additional to those of the accessibility constraint, satisfy the detailed conditions at section 6 of Law n ° 90-568 of 2 July 1990.
This article invests in the Post of a Planning Mission Territory through its network of contact points. The Law n ° 2010-123 of 9 February 2010 has amended article 6 of the aforementioned law, which states that " To fulfil this mission, La Poste adapts its network of points of contact, in particular through the conclusion of local, public or private partnerships, seeking the best economic and social efficiency. This network has at least 17,000 points of contact spread over French territory, taking into account the specific nature of the network, particularly in the overseas departments and communities. [...] Except in exceptional circumstances, these rules (2) may not allow more than 10 % of the population of a department to be more than five kilometres away and more than twenty minutes of automobile travel, under the conditions of Circulation of the territory concerned, of the closest contact points of La Poste ".
This deployment induced for La Poste an additional cost, to the financing of which contribute to the local tax concessions fixed, from 2011 onwards, after Evaluation of the CBWA.
IV of Section 6 of Law No. 90-568 of July 2, 1990 loads the ARCEP " To evaluate each year the net cost of the complementary mesh to ensure the spatial planning mission entrusted to La Poste." It adds that a " Decree in the Council of State, taken after the opinion of the Higher Commission for the Public Service of Posts and Electronic Communications and published by 31 March 2010 at the latest, specifies the method of evaluation implemented.
Href=" /viewTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000024377338 &categorieLink = cid"> decree n ° 2011-849, specifying the method for calculating the net cost of the complementary mesh allowing " La Poste d' assurance sa mission d' aménagement du territoire ", was published in the Official Journal on July 20, 2011.
3 ° of II Article 1635 sexies of the general tax code relating to " Local direct charges levied for the benefit of local authorities and various institutions and bodies " Provides that " The tax bases of La Poste shall be the subject of an allowance equal to 85 % of their amount, due to the service constraints of the whole of the national territory and the participation in the development of the territory imposed on that operator. The abatement does not give rise to compensation by the State. As regards the assessment of the added value of undertakings, the value added for the application of Article 1586 ter shall be the subject of a deduction of 70 % of its amount; each year, beginning in the financial year 2011, the rate of Abattments mentioned in the first paragraph of this 3 ° shall be fixed by decree, within the limit of 95 %, so that the proceeds of such abattements contribute to the financing of the cost of the complementary territorial grid of La Poste as it is evaluated By the Electronic Communications and Postal Regulatory Authority, in accordance with IV of Section 6 of Law No. 90-568 of 2 July 1990 on the organization of the public postal service and in France Telecom ".
Pursuant to the above-noted article, the assessment of the net cost of the net cost of the complementary mesh intervenes in the calculation of the year 2012.
These abattements will feed into the national equalization postal fund Territory that is constituted " Under the conditions laid down by a multi-annual contract for the territorial postal presence between the State, La Poste and the national association most representative of the Mayors [...] (3). "
II. -Evaluation
In accordance with the method specified in decree n ° 2011-849, the net cost is equal to the avoided costs (costs associated with the complementary network minus Costs related to the carry-forward of the activity) decreased revenue lost (revenues associated with the complementary network less revenue related to the carry forward of the activity).
To implement this method, it is appropriate:
-on the one hand, to estimate costs and The revenue associated with the complementary network. If the information system of La Poste makes it possible to know the revenue collected at each point of contact, it is not the same for the costs; the analytical accounting of La Poste records them only at the level of a decision-making centre Grouping several points of contact;
-on the other hand, to assess the effect on the costs and revenue of the hypothetical removal of the complementary network: the resulting network, says " Hypothetical network ", corresponds to the universal service network whose costs and revenues would have increased as a result of the postponement of all or part of the activity of the complementary network.
To carry out these different evaluations, the ARCEP has Equipped with technical-economic modelling of the network of points of contact of La Poste.
Following its first evaluation of the net cost for the year 2010, the ARCEP has made several improvements in its modelling, (i) on the network, for More accurately reflect land use planning obligations, including Including points of contact in the overseas departments and communities, which improves the modelling of the accounting data of La Poste, and (ii) on the assessment of avoided costs:
-on real estate costs: In its previous evaluation, the ARCEP had identified a significant difference between the real property costs recorded in the La Poste accounting system and those obtained by modelling. Since then, La Poste has made a better identification of the data necessary for the modelling (surface of the points of contact and average price per square metre for each office), which greatly reduces the gap observed previously;
-on the Support activities: the 2010 net cost evaluation dealt separately with box office and support activities. This choice led to a failure to take into account the possibility of mutualization between these functions. The 2011 net cost estimate takes this possibility into account;
-on mentorship activities: the share generated by the partner points is better taken into account in the modelling, reflecting the organization observed in the Field trips;
-on maintenance activities: For the net cost of 2010, maintenance costs were considered to be common costs and their treatment was therefore based on section 3 of Order in Council n ° 2011-849 providing a charge in proportion to the costs already allocated. For the 2011 net cost assessment, specific and relevant cost drivers for these activities have been identified;
-on automatons: to better reflect the life of post office automats, the evaluation The net cost for 2011 is based on an average amortisation period longer than the depreciation period.
ARCEP also engaged in work on the evolution of the demand during the hypothetical removal of the network Complementary. They dealt with the request, including an analysis of the sensitivity of the demand for postal services to the distance between the population and a point of contact, on the indirect demand, and on the possible intangible benefits to which La Poste is Likely to benefit from its obligation of territorial presence, in particular the impact of the size of the network on the brand image of La Poste.
This work resulted in a public consultation setting out the principles and methods Likely to be implemented for this evaluation (4) and a study conducted by a firm External to the ARCEP; the results of the latter, which are still preliminary, will be exploited in subsequent evaluations.
II-1. Identification of Peri-Meters
For its evaluation, the CBWRA focused on taking into account the relevant network within the meaning of the land use requirement.
II-1.a The contact points reference network
La Poste communicates to the ARCEP certain characteristics (5) of its contact points, in response to the questionnaire sent to it by the Authority for the calculation of the net cost of the land use planning mission. The database consists of all the contact points deployed by La Poste in metropolitan France, in the overseas departments and communities (6), in Andorra and in Monaco. It does not include military offices.
On the other hand, the activity and turnover of the temporary offices are retired and integrated into the permanent offices (7) to which they are attached. Therefore, the temporary points do not appear on the basis of the points of contact, but the activity and turnover they generate are well traced.
This database covers 17,031 points as of June 30, 2011.
Of this Data base, the points taken into account for the calculation of the net cost of the mission of planning the territory of La Poste correspond to the network meeting the obligations of territorial
. Responding to the departmental constraint set by the I of Section 6 of Law No. 90-568 of July 2, 1990, which are identified in the national annual balance sheet " Relating to its [La Poste] contribution to the development and development of the territory " Established by La Poste in accordance with Decree No. 2006-1239 of 11 October 2006. According to this balance sheet, the points of contact subject to this constraint correspond to all the points deployed in France and the overseas departments, including Mayotte since the financial year 2011.
To this departmental constraint is added to the terms of the I of section 6 of the Act of July 2, 1990 above, the Duty to Adapt " Its network of contact points, in particular through the conclusion of local public or private partnerships, seeking the best economic and social efficiency. This network counts at least 17,000 points of contact spread over French territory, taking into account the specificities of the French territory, in particular in the overseas departments and communities ".
As a result, the relevant network taken into account Includes contact points subject to departmental constraints as well as those of the overseas communities of Saint-Martin, Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon.
This relevant network corresponds to 17,016 points as at 30 June 2011 of the base Data.
II. -1.b Additional mesh
The relevant network of Point of Contact points is split. Conceptually, in two parts: one, responding to the mission of accessibility resulting from the universal service mission; the other, responding to the additional obligations related to the land use mission. Article 1 of Decree No. 2011-849 provides that " The complementary mesh to ensure the spatial planning mission referred to in Article 6 of the Law of 2 July 1990 [...] corresponds to the number of points of contact deployed by La Poste to enable it to ensure this Mission, in addition to those resulting from the sole obligation of accessibility of the universal service [...], provided that these additional points of contact are necessary to satisfy the criteria of the last paragraph of Article 6 of the Law of 2 July 1990 [...] or to have at least 17,000 contact points. "
La Poste has developed a modelling to identify the extent of the network meeting the accessibility criteria defined in Article R. 1-1 of the CPCE, which would be deployed in the absence of the spatial planning mission.
This Modelling is based on a segmentation of the territory. It is divided into 595 zones (8), each characterized by a minimum density of points of contact per square kilometre and per capita necessary to ensure the accessibility of the universal postal service. From this minimum density, is determined the minimum number of contact points necessary to ensure the obligation of accessibility. For the year 2011, the number of points falling within the accessibility obligation in the reference network is thus 7593 points (9). The complementary network is thus obtained by contrast between the reference network and the accessible network. There are 9,423 points in 2011.
For the year 2011, this modelling is not called into question by the ARCEP, which uses it to assign each point of the reference network, either to the accessibility part or to the part of the network. Spatial planning.
II. -2. Avoavoided Cost Assessment
The avoided cost estimate requires determining the cost of the contact points of the reference network, currently deployed, and that of the network that meets the universal service accessibility obligation, in The hypothetical scenario. To this end, the ARCEP has established a cost nomenclature and selected different cost functions according to their categories, which are calibrated against the relevant accounting charges actually recorded in the accounts of La Poste.
II. -2.a Load Bill of Material
Network charges consist of:
-direct charges in institutions;
-indirect charges in institutions;
-territorial and national structures loads;
- Common carrier service charges.
i. Direct institutional loads
They correspond to activities directly associated with the activity of the contact points: presence of a teller in an office in its own, remuneration of a partner point, use of a Bank automaton, associated support activities (cash transactions, accounting, ATM procurement).
In each of these activities, correspond to specific costs:
-the costs corresponding to the remuneration of the tellers ensuring the presence and contact with the public and the associated operating costs;
-the partnership costs, corresponding to the expenses incurred by La Poste to the Its partner points, as set out in the partnership agreements;
-costs generated by installation, renewal, operation of power, maintenance, depreciation and support for automatons, for operations Automated Banking;
-Personnel and Operational Costs Support.
ii. Indirect charges in institutions
They correspond to the costs incurred in the points of contact indirectly necessary for its activity. The operation of each point of the network requires the availability of premises, a staff ensuring, in particular, but not exclusively the supervision of tellers (10) or the finding of non-productive activities in a window (leave, Training, etc.). The different cost items specifically identified are:
-the cost of framing the expenses of the staff providing the coaching functions;
-the real property costs of renting the premises As well as charges related to the maintenance and operation of points of contact;
-charges related to non-productive activities, such as leave and training;
-and various other charges incurred in points of Contact.
iii. The charges for territorial and national structures
They correspond to the charges incurred by the Enseigne in its various structures which are not points of contact, but which provide pilotage, management and Of support. The corresponding charges may be allocated according to the following posts:
-real estate charges;
-technical support charges;
-loads from departmental and territorial directions;
-loads from other structures, such as the National Direction of the Enseigne or those that provide Customer relationships.
iv. Common services charges common to the company La Poste
They correspond to the expenses incurred by the recourse, in the Enseigne institutions, to the various services provided in a way Shared for the whole business La Poste, such as services Computer, maintenance (including mail machines), human resources, training, procurement, accounting.
II-2.b Cost functions
The following features used for the 2011 evaluation are based on Work carried out by La Poste or by the ARCEP (11):
-the cost of a partner corresponds to the average remuneration paid by La Poste; for the year 2011, the distinction according to the nature of the partner point has not been made; it is not necessary for evaluation;
-the cost of operations Automated is considered proportional to the activity recorded in the automata, which is measured at each point of contact. This proportionality relationship is applied to the charges relating to " Banking machines " (12) and the automaton support activity;
-the cost of the wicket operations is proportional to the presence time required for, on the one hand, the postal presence through at least one teller present during the opening period At the point of contact and, on the other hand, with a quality of service, determined transactions at the wicket.
The hourly processing capacity of an office and the necessary presence time are determined by law enforcement From Erlang modeling the queue phenomenon in the post office, including the Parameters (average time of an operation, average number of transactions per client, time of reception, target wait time) have been communicated by La Poste.
The selected parameters lead to the necessary presence time within a point of Contact is given with an excellent approximation by a law affine according to the activity. This law is therefore taken to determine the sizing of a point of contact, taking into account the presence of a teller at least.
The number of minutes thus obtained allows the cost generated by the presence of " Box office ".
The operating costs of the wickets, depreciation and allowances related to the deployment of the wickets are proportional to the amount of teller's presence as determined;
-the cost of The support activity is based on a decomponent econometric analysis, on the basis of data transmitted by La Poste, the support activity between a fixed part and a variable part of the point of contact activity treated. Part of the support activity is reintegrated over time " Empty " When there is, because of the possibility for agents present in a window to carry out such tasks, on a mutual basis. Taking this possibility into account is an evolution of the modeling compared to the one implemented previously;
-the cost of supervision: the modelling distinguishes a variable part, linked to the total activity level at the Point of contact, and a fixed part per point in its own. The visits and work carried out by the ARCEP in 2012 did not lead to questioning the part of the framework linked to the specific contact points set at 10 % in the previous evaluation. For future evaluations, the ARCEP will remain attentive to the validity of this parameter;
-the real estate cost of a point results from an evaluation of its surface, modeled as having a fixed share and a proportional share of the number of (13), and a price per square metre per point, communicated by La Poste. It also includes a portion corresponding to the miscellaneous charges and average maintenance costs per square metre.
Other cost items are common to the various points in the network. Among them, some positions are related to personnel costs. These are training expenses, human resources and provisions for leave with pay. Therefore, these costs are charged in proportion to the costs of personnel already allocated (banking, support, coaching).
In addition, the maintenance activity was modeled as part of the net cost calculation 2011; this work has made it possible to clarify relevant cost drivers linked to the activity (13), which can be used to account for the deformation of maintenance activity costs in the absence of the complementary mesh.
For the Other load stations (15), in the absence of more accurate data, the PFRA Relies onArticle 3 of Decree No. 2011-849 which provides that " in the absence of a direct or indirect allocation of common costs, These shall be charged in proportion to the direct and indirect costs of the activities of the network of points of contact ".
II-2.c The costing of
cost functions on accounting data
In the absence of cost accounting data Recorded at the point of contact, the cost of the different networks is based on the technical-economic modelling of the network based on the cost functions presented. The latter are spread over the accounting perimeter corresponding to the entire deployed network (16), according to the nomenclature of the regulatory refund R 5. The ARCEP considered that two adjustments to these costs should be made as part of the calculation of the net cost:
-charges for the operation of banking machines, which are not recorded natively in the points accounts Contact, are taken into account and correspond to those communicated in addition to the perimeter " Window " In the regulatory refund R 5;
-the depreciation life of the automatons has been lengthened to better reflect their effective life.
II-3. Assessment of lost income
Article 3 of the aforementioned decree provides that " The revenue lost [...] shall be equal to the revenue attributable to the complementary mesh, including, where appropriate, the revenue resulting from the intangible benefits duly recognized, which La Poste shall withdraw, decrease in revenue which, in the absence of This mesh, would be referred to the contact points maintained. "
In 2012, the ARCEP conducted a public consultation on the intangible benefits to which La Poste is likely to benefit from its obligation of territorial presence, which specifies the principles and methodology that the ARCEP intends to offer. To implement in the evaluation the effects of the extension of the network of points of contact on the application addressed to La Poste. It also initiated a study, still under way, concerning the evaluation of the effects on the application addressed to La Poste and its image of the size of its network of points of contact.
In the absence of evidence to support the This day, the effect of the absence of the complementary mesh on the demand and the image of the operator's mark, and thus on the revenue of the postal operator, the assumption of conservation of the demand during the transition to the hypothetical network is retained For this evaluation.
II. -4. Assessment assessment
For the 2011 financial year, the relevant costs of the reference network are EUR [...] million and are divided between charges directly linked to the activities in establishment ([...] million EUR), Indirect costs (supervision, real estate) incurred in establishment ([...] million EUR) and common costs (EUR [...] million) derived, on the one hand, from the territorial structures of the Enseigne and, on the other hand, from the media services Common to the entire enterprise La Poste.
In the Modelling 2011, the transition to the hypothetical network is accompanied by a complete postponement of the activity (17). In spite of the conservation of the demand during the transition to the complementary network, La Poste argues that there is a decline in activity which would be explained by the change in the structure of the demand linked to the increase in the size of the points (Consolidation of operations, decrease in the number of withdrawals). In the absence of sufficient data to substantiate this point sufficiently, the ARCEP does not retain this assumption in its modelling and fully defers the activity in the hypothetical network. This deferral represents [...] million minutes, or 9.7 % of total activity.
This deferral takes into account possible changes within the structure of the hypothetical network activity. Thus, because of the increase in activity in the points of the universal service network due to the postponement of the activity of the complementary network, the ARCEP has adopted an increase in the rate of automation of these points in relation to the situation Current. This analysis is based on the observation that the rate of automation increases with the activity of a point of contact.
The transition to the hypothetical network is thus made by keeping the full cost of the network accessible, i.e. [...] million euros In 2011. In this amount, the costs resulting from the deferral of the activity of the complementary mesh, or EUR million in total, should be added. The difference between the cost of the hypothetical network thus calculated and that of reference constitutes the cost avoided, i.e. EUR 247 million for 2011.
In the absence of any effect of the abolition of the supplementary network on the level of demand, it does not Has no revenue lost for 2011.
In conclusion, the net cost is EUR 247 million. It is EUR 22 million less than the net cost of 2010. This decrease is due in particular to improvements in technical-economic modelling; to the same (2010) modelling and network rules, this cost is characterised by relative stability. The decrease in net cost is largely due to the updating of real estate parameters, secondary to the mutualization of support and ATM activities, and on a marginal basis by the lengthening of the life of the automatons and Specific modelling of maintenance activities.
II. -5. No double-account
Article 4 of the aforementioned decree provides that " For the calculation of the net cost [...], the Electronic Communications and Supervisory Authority shall ensure that no double counting is taken with the calculation of other public service tasks. "
In addition to the land use planning mission, La Poste has three public service missions: (i) universal service, (ii) press transport and distribution, (iii) and bank accessibility.
La Poste is currently not Compensation for its universal service mission. In addition, the perimeter on which the cost of the latter is evaluated differs by construction of that used for spatial planning, both in relation to the accessibility mission which, in the modelling, is separated from that The
on which the cost of the transport mission and the distribution of the press is assessed is distinct from that of the Point of contact network
Finally, the costs of bank accessibility are part of the The costs of La Banque Postale, some of which fall within the cost scope of the network of contact points. However, modeling ensures that all of these costs are allocated to the party " Business " The reference network. This part corresponds to a subnet which, in the absence of any dimensioning constraints, would maximize the margin of each occupation of La Poste within the network. It is therefore outside the scope of spatial planning.
In the light of all these elements, the ARCEP considers that there is no double-counting between the calculation of the net cost of the land use planning mission and that of the Other public service missions.
Decides:
The net cost of the complementary network of La Poste responding to its land use planning mission is EUR 247 million for 2011.
This decision will be made public, subject to the secrets protected by law, and published on the website Of the ARCEP and in the Official Journal of the French Republic.
Done in Paris, October 23, 2012.
The President,
J.-L. Silicani
