Key Benefits:
The Autorité de régulation des communications électronique et des postes,
Having regard to Directive 97/67/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 15 December 1997 as amended concerning the common rules for the development of the internal market for postal services of the Community and the improvement of the quality of service;
Vu le Post and electronic communications codeincluding articles L. 1, L. 2, L. 2-2 and R. 1-1;
Vu le General Tax Code, in particular the 3rd of the II of article 1635 sexies;
Vu la Act No. 90-568 of 2 July 1990 amended on the public service of the position and France Télécom, including its article 6;
Vu la Act No. 95-115 of 4 February 1995 modified orientation for the development and development of the territory;
Vu le Decree No. 2006-1239 of 11 October 2006 relating to La Poste's contribution to the development of the territory;
Vu le Decree No. 2011-849 of 18 July 2011 specifying the method for calculating the net cost of the complementary mesh allowing La Poste to carry out its land use planning mission;
In view of Decision No. 2011-1081 of 22 September 2011 on the assessment for 2010 of the net cost of the complementary mesh allowing La Poste to carry out its land use planning mission;
In light of Decision No. 2012-1311 of 23 October 2012 on the assessment for 2011 of the net cost of the complementary mesh allowing La Poste to carry out its land use planning mission;
In view of Decision No. 2013-1169 dated October 1, 2013 on the assessment for 2012 of the net cost of the complementary mesh allowing La Poste to carry out its land use planning mission;
In view of La Poste's response of 18 July 2014 to the questionnaire sent by the Autorité de régulation des communications électronique et des postes on 25 June 2014;
Having regard to the public consultation of ARCEP on the intangible benefits to which La Poste is likely to benefit from its territorial presence obligation, conducted between June 12 and July 13, 2012, and the responses received on this occasion;
In view of the ARCEP's public consultation on the model for the assessment of the net cost of the La Poste land use planning mission, conducted between 17 July and 10 September 2013, and the responses received on this occasion,
Implementation IV of Article 6 of Law No. 90-568 of 2 July 1990 Amended, the Electronic Communications and Post Control Authority (hereinafter the ARCEP) is responsible for "evaluating annually the net cost of the complementary mesh to ensure the land development mission entrusted to La Poste". TheArticle 2 of Decree No. 2011-849 of 18 July 2011 states that "the net cost of this complementary mesh is equal to the cost avoided in its absence, reduced revenues lost in its absence".
This decision assesses the net cost of supplementary mesh for the year 2013 using the method of Decree No. 2011-849. The implementation of the methodology uses the model presented at the public consultation, conducted from July 17 to September 10, 2013, regarding the model for the assessment of the net cost of the land use planning mission. To implement this method, the decision (i) identifies the complementary mesh, (ii) assesses the cost avoided in its absence and (iii) lost revenue. This assessment is the fourth assessment by ARCEP of the net cost of complementary mesh (1).
I. Regulatory framework
The Post is subject to obligations relating to the size and organization of its contact points network. These obligations arise, in particular, from an accessibility constraint related to the status of the postal universal service provider of La Poste.
TheArticle L. 2 of the Post and Electronic Communications Code (CPCE) states that "The Post is the provider of the universal postal service for a period of fifteen years from January 1, 2011". Article L. 1 of the CPCE states that the "Universal Postal Service contributes to the 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 guarantees to all users, permanently and throughout the national territory, postal services that meet specific quality standards."
Article R. 1-1 of the CPCE, pursuant to Article L. 2 of the same code, states that "the points of contact with the public giving access to universal service services other than the numbered consignments and information on these benefits must allow at least 99% of the national population and at least 95% of the population of each department to be less than 10 kilometres from a point of contact and that all communes of more than 10,000 inhabitants have
In addition to this accessibility obligation, La Poste deploys a so-called "additional" mesh whose points of contact, additional to those under the accessibility constraint, meet the detailed conditions to theArticle 6 of Act No. 90-568 of 2 July 1990.
This article invests La Poste d'une mission d' aménagement du territoire via its network of points of contact. TheArticle 6 of Act No. 90-568 referred to above, modified by Act No. 2010-123 of 9 February 2010, states that "to fulfill this mission, La Poste adapts its network of points of contact, including through the conclusion of local, public or private partnerships, seeking the best economic and social efficiency. The network has at least 17,000 points of contact spread across French territory, taking into account the specificities of the network, particularly in overseas departments and communities. [...] Except in exceptional circumstances, these rules (2) may only allow more than 10% of the population of a department to be located far from more than five kilometres and more than twenty minutes of motor journey, under the conditions of traffic in the territory concerned, of the nearest points of contact of La Poste".
This deployment induces an additional cost to La Poste, which contributes to local tax cuts set by decree after the ARCEP evaluation.
The IV of Article 6 of Law No. 90-568 of 2 July 1990 loads ARCEP "to evaluate each year the net cost of the complementary mesh to ensure the land development mission entrusted to La Poste". He adds that a "decree in the Council of State, taken after the opinion of the Superior Commission of the Public Service of Posts and Electronic Communications and published by March 31, 2010, specifies the method of evaluation implemented".
The Decree No. 2011-849, specifying the method of calculating the net cost of the supplementary mesh allowing "La Poste to ensure its land use planning mission", was published in the Official Journal on 20 July 2011.
The 3° of Article 1635 sexies of the General Tax Code relating to "local direct taxation collected for the benefit of territorial authorities and various institutions and agencies" states that "the La Poste's tax bases are subject to a reduction of 85% of their amount, due to the constraints of service to the entire national territory and participation in the development of the territory required for that operator. Slaughter does not result in compensation by the State. With respect to the value-added contribution of companies, the value-added for the purposes of section 1586 ter is subject to a 70% reduction in its amount; Each year, beginning in the 2011 fiscal year, the rate of slaughter referred to in the first paragraph of this 3° is fixed by decree, within 95%, so that the proceeds of these slaughters contribute to the financing of the cost of the complementary territorial grid of La Poste as assessed by the Autorité de régulation des communications électronique et des postes, in accordance with the IV of Article 6 of Law No. 90-568 of 2 July 1990 relating to the organization of the public service of the post and to France Télécom".
Pursuant to the above-mentioned article, ARCEP's assessment of the net cost of complementary mesh is used in the calculation of slaughters for fiscal year 2014.
These slaughters feed the national postal fund of territorial equalization which is constituted "in the conditions fixed by a multi-year contract of the territorial postal presence between the State, La Poste and the most representative national association of the mayors [...]" (3).
II. - Assessment model used by ARCEP
In accordance with the method specified by the Decree No. 2011-849, the net cost of the supplementary mesh is equal to the costs avoided in its absence (costs associated with the less-cost complementary network related to the carry-over of the activity) diminished of the revenues lost in its absence (recipients associated with the supplementary network less revenue related to the carry-over of the activity).
To achieve this evaluation, ARCEP has developed a technical-economic modelling of the La Poste contact points network, which it launched in public consultation from July 17 to September 10, 2013. This consultation presents the modalities for identifying the scopes identified in the modelling, the cost functions used, and the method for assessing the intangible benefits that La Poste draws from its land use planning mission.
The two contributions received during this consultation, La Poste and UPS, which ARCEP also published the synthesis, had not led to changes in the net cost assessment model for fiscal year 2012. This model has remained unchanged for this evaluation.
III. - Evaluation
III-1. Field identification
For its evaluation, ARCEP has been committed to taking into account the relevant network within the meaning of the land use requirement. This reference network includes 17,047 points in 2013.
The number of points related to the accessibility requirement in the reference network is 7,596 points. The complementary network is obtained by difference between the reference network and the accessible network. It has 9,451 points of contact.
III-2. Evaluation of cost avoided
In the absence of recording of loads at each point of contact, the cost of the various networks is based on the technical-economic modelling of the network presented in the public consultation and based on cost functions. These functions are calibrated on the accounting perimeter corresponding to the entire network deployed, with the exception of two corrections made by ARCEP (4).
III-3. Assessment of lost revenue
TheArticle 3 of Decree No. 2011-849 above states that "the revenues lost [...] are equal to the revenues attributable to the supplementary mesh, including, where applicable, the revenues resulting from the duly recognized intangible benefits, which La Poste withdraws from it, diminished of the revenues that, in the absence of this mesh, would refer to the points of contact maintained".
The work carried out by ARCEP on the application function does not lead to questioning the application assumptions (including the absence of a loss of activity) presented in the public consultation on the evaluation model, based on the 2010 and 2012 net cost assessments.
III-4. Intangible benefits assessment
ARCEP conducted work in 2013 on the advertising value of the La Poste logo, presented in the public consultation on the evaluation model (5). Based on the responses to the consultation, ARCEP had retained in the 2012 Net Cost Assessment the benefit provided by the advertising value of the logo display on the contact points under the supplementary grid. This benefit is retained for the 2013 Net Cost Assessment.
III-5. Evaluation review
For fiscal year 2013, the relevant costs of the reference network are [...] million euros. The transition to the hypothetical network in modelling is accompanied by a full report of activity (6). This report represents 8.9% of total activity.
The cost of the network of contact points in the hypothetical scenario is obtained by adding to the current costs of the accessible network, valued at [...] million euros, the costs resulting from the postponement of the activity of the complementary grid, valued at [...] million euros, which leads to a total cost of [...] million euros. The difference between the cost of the hypothetical network and that of reference is the avoided cost of €252 million for 2013.
The immaterial advantage of the La Poste logo on the points of the complementary mesh is also valued at 1 million euros in 2013.
Thus, the net cost for the year 2013 is estimated at 251 million euros.
III-6. Absence of double account
TheArticle 4 of Decree No. 2011-849 above states that "for the calculation of the net cost [...], the Autorité de régulation des communications électronique et des postes ensures that all double counts with the calculation of other public service missions".
In addition to its land use planning mission, La Poste has three other public service missions: (i) universal service, (ii) transport and distribution of the press and (iii) banking accessibility.
The Post currently does not receive compensation for its universal service mission, as the compensation fund under Article L. 2-2 of the CPCE has not been activated. Therefore, the net cost of this mission is not subject to an assessment by ARCEP. In any event, the perimeter on which the net cost of universal service obligations would be assessed differs by construction of the perimeter used for land use:
- with respect to the accessibility of points of contact, the modelling of the so-called "commercial" network (which, in the absence of any constraint of dimensioning, would maximize the margin of each La Poste business within the network), the accessible network (as per the requirement of accessibility of the universal service) and the current network (as per the land use planning mission) makes it possible to separately assess the cost of two missions;
- in respect of distribution obligations, the relevant accounting areas are disjointed.
Similarly, the scope on which the cost of the transport mission and the distribution of the press is assessed is distinct from that of the contact points network.
Finally, bank accessibility costs are part of the costs of The Postal Bank, some of which fall within the cost perimeter of the contact points network. However, the modelling implemented by La Poste ensures that these costs are assessed on the "commercial" part of the reference network. It is therefore outside the scope of land use planning.
With regard to these elements, ARCEP considers that there is no dual account between the calculation of the net cost of the land use planning mission and that of other public service missions.
Decides:
The net cost of La Poste's complementary mesh meeting its land use planning mission is 251 million euros for the year 2013.
This decision will be published, subject to the secrets protected by law, in the Official Journal of the French Republic and on the ARCEP website.
Done in Paris, September 16, 2014.
The president,
J.-L. Silicani
