JOHN CARLOS I

KING OF SPAIN

To all who present it and understand,

Sabed: That the General Courts have approved and I come to sanction the following law.

INDEX

Title I. General provisions.

Article 1. Purpose and scope of the law.

Article 2. Nature and provision of postal services.

Article 3. Definitions.

Article 4. Services excluded.

Title II. Rights of users of postal services.

Article 5. Secret of postal communications.

Article 6. Inviolability of postal items.

Article 7. Data protection.

Article 8. Right to the provision of a quality universal postal service.

Article 9. Right of information on postal services.

Article 10. Claim right.

Article 11. Right of denunciation.

Article 12. Right to receive compensation.

Article 13. Right to the ownership of postal items.

Article 14. Right of submission of written submissions to Public Administrations.

Article 15. Right to the identification of the operator.

Article 16. Right to proof of deposit and delivery of certified shipments.

Article 17. Right to reissue and shun postal items.

Article 18. Right to the protection of undelivered shipments.

Article 19. Rights to information and presentation of complaints, complaints and writings of persons with disabilities.

Title III. The Universal Postal Service.

Chapter I. Concept and Scope.

Article 20. Concept.

Article 21. Scope.

Chapter II. Conditions for the provision of the universal postal service to the operator designated by the State.

Article 22. Principles and requirements for the provision of the universal postal service.

Article 23. Conditions for the collection and admission of postal items.

Article 24. Conditions for the distribution and delivery of postal items.

Article 25. Delivery and delivery times for postal items.

Chapter III. Cost and financing of the public service obligations of the universal postal service entrusted to the designated operator.

Article 26. An obligation to carry out analytical and account separation accounting.

Article 27. Net cost of public service obligations of the universal postal service.

Article 28. Financing of the public service obligations of the universal postal service imposed on the designated operator.

Article 29. Funding fund.

Article 30. State funding.

Article 31. Postal contribution.

Article 32. Fee for the granting of singular administrative authorizations.

Article 33. Guarantees.

Chapter IV. Prices and other tariff conditions for postal services.

Article 34. Prices.

Article 35. Special discounts and prices to users.

Article 36. Franking and payment systems for services.

Title IV. General arrangements for the provision of postal services.

Chapter I. General provisions.

Article 37. Arrangements for the provision of postal services.

Article 38. Conditions for the provision of postal services.

Article 39. General Register of Postal Service Companies.

Chapter II. Responsible statements.

Article 40. Scope and conditions of responsible statements.

Article 41. Content of the declaration.

Chapter III. Unique administrative authorities.

Article 42. Scope of the singular administrative authorities.

Article 43. Requirements for obtaining the unique administrative authorisations and obligations of their holders.

Article 44. Procedure for granting singular administrative authorizations.

Title V. Access to the postal network of operators and resolution of conflicts between them.

Chapter I. Access to the postal network and other postal infrastructures.

Article 45. Access to the postal network of postal operators.

Article 46. Postal network access fees for postal operators.

Article 47. Access to other infrastructures.

Chapter II. Conflict resolution between postal operators.

Article 48. Conflict resolution between postal operators and the designated operator for the provision of the universal postal service.

Article 49. Conflict between non-designated operators for the provision of the universal postal service.

Title VI. National Regulatory Authority.

Article 50. National Regulatory Authority.

Article 51. The Postal Superior Council.

Title VII. Inspection, infringements and penalties.

Article 52. Competence.

Article 53. Powers of inspection and duty of collaboration.

Article 54. Sanctioning procedure and documentation of the inspection actions.

Article 55. Place of performance of the inspection activities.

Article 56. Infringements and responsible persons.

Article 57. Joint responsibility.

Article 58. Classification of the infringements.

Article 59. Very serious infringements.

Article 60. Serious infringements.

Article 61. Minor infractions.

Article 62. Penalties.

Article 63. Criteria for the graduation of penalties.

Article 64. Deduction of penalties.

Article 65. Charging of penalties.

Article 66. Periodic penalty payments.

Article 67. Precautionary measures.

Article 68. Extinction of responsibility.

Additional disposition first. Operator designated by the State to provide the universal postal service.

Additional provision second. Monitoring of the conditions for the provision of the universal postal service.

Additional provision third. Mandatory minimum services.

Additional provision fourth. Issue and distribution of seals and other signs of postage.

Additional provision fifth. Postal decorations and honorary postmen.

Additional provision sixth. Seal of excellence for a sustainable postal company.

Additional provision seventh. Mentions.

Additional disposition octave. Additional and complementary measures to those defined in the additional 41st and 40th 2nd of Law 26/2009, of 23 December, of General State Budgets for the year 2010.

Additional provision ninth. Modification of the deadline granted in the final Disposition seventh of Law 33/2010, of 5 August, of amendment of Law 48/2003, of 26 November, of economic regime and of provision of services in ports of general interest.

Additional provision 10th. Authorization for the completion of fillers in the port public domain of the Port of Bilbao referred to in the projects for the Urban Development of Zorrotzaurre.

Single transient arrangement. Conditions of benefit.

Single repeal provision. Regulatory repeal.

Final disposition first. Amendment of Law 23/2007, of 8 October, of the creation of the National Commission of the Postal Sector.

Final disposition second. Commissioning of the promotional census.

Final disposition third. Additional or complementary services to postal services.

Final disposition fourth. Competence title.

Final disposition fifth. Incorporation of Community law.

Final disposition sixth. Regulatory enablement.

Final disposition seventh. Entry into force.

PREAMBLE

I

This law responds to a legal obligation and a unique opportunity for postal services in Spain.

The obligation arises from the need to transpose by 31 December 2010 Directive 2008 /6/EC of 20 February 2008 amending Directive 97 /67/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 2008 1997 on common rules for the development of the internal market for postal services in the Community and improvement of the quality of the service.

The opportunity is provided by this same fact. It is, therefore, time to equip ourselves with a complete and coherent model to ensure an effective, efficient and quality universal postal service, in line with the demands of our citizens and businesses; a model that ensures effectively the rights of users of postal services, whatever the nature of the service provider; and, finally, provide the market with a balanced and fair framework for the exercise of free competition based on the protection of postal services. general interest and the weighting of the interests of the various public and private actors, which operate in this market.

The existence of postal services of wide territorial coverage and high quality and reliability is a necessary condition for the promotion of a harmonious, balanced and sustainable development of economic activities in the Spain and the whole of the European Union. As the Community legislation itself recognises, postal services are an essential means of communication, trade and social, economic and territorial cohesion, and in the fulfilment of their role of general interest they contribute to the achievement of the objectives of equity, employment and social protection, while at the same time promoting the competitiveness of businesses and the raising of the quality of life of citizens.

Law 24/1998, of July 13, of the Universal Postal Service and of the Liberalization of Postal Services, carried out a regulation of the Spanish postal sector inspired by Directive 97 /67/EC. Since its entry into force, several amendments have been made to that law, such as those introduced by Article 95 of Law 50/1998 of 30 December 1998, by the additional twenty-first provision of Law 14/2000, 29 of Article 81 of Law 24/2001 of December 27, and Article 106 of Law 53/2002 of 30 December 2002, all of them of Fiscal, Administrative and Social Order Measures, or the most recent introduced by the Law 25/2009, of 23 December, amending various laws for its adaptation to Law 17/2009, of 22 November, on the free access to and pursuit of the service activities. Together with all these changes, the new regulation of one of the national regulatory bodies in the postal sector, which has been incorporated into our legal order by Law 23/2007 of 8 October, should also be underlined. The creation of the National Postal Sector Commission.

Similarly, beyond the provisions of Directive 97 /67/EC, the European Union has continued to push forward the process of reform of the postal sector, which has led to the adoption of a new regulatory framework for postal services. of the Union by means of Directive 2002/39/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 June 2002 amending Directive 97 /67/EC in order to continue the opening up of the competence of the postal services of the Community, and of the already mentioned Directive 2008 /6/EC of 20 February 2008 amending the same Directive the aim of achieving the completion of the internal market for Community postal services.

The above-mentioned Directives, while reiterating that postal services constitute a service of general economic interest of great economic and social importance, emphasize that in recent years they have won in quality and efficiency. and have been better targeted towards the needs of users, while maintaining their role in promoting social and territorial cohesion. They reiterate the European directives which the Member States must ensure that the reform of the postal market is fully compatible with the maintenance of a high quality universal postal service offered throughout the Community. territory at affordable prices, in an efficient manner and with a guarantee of its financial sufficiency.

This law aims to provide a new legal framework that, while incorporating into our internal order the aforementioned postal directive 2008 /6/EC, guarantees the rights of citizens to receive a postal service universal of wide territorial coverage and high quality and efficiency and reinforces the financial sustainability of this service that is entrusted to the state company Correos y Telegrafos, S.A.

With regard to the quality of services included in the scope of the universal postal service, the aim of the law is to ensure that the operator designated in Spain for the provision of this service is provided with quality standards similar to those of the most advanced countries in this field in all the 27 Member States of the European Union.

II

The law is structured into seven titles, ten additional provisions, a transitional provision, a repeal provision, and seven final provisions.

The seven titles regulate, respectively, the general aspects; the rights of users of postal services; the universal postal service and its prices and other tariff conditions; postal services in Spain; access to the network and other postal infrastructures and the resolution of conflicts between operators; the national regulatory authority; and, finally, questions related to the inspection, violations and penalties.

The law configures, in accordance with the Directive that it transposed, three well-defined areas of postal services.

On the one hand, as the heart of the system, the universal postal service, whose material scope and formal requirements are set out in Title III and which are entrusted under public service obligations to the public operator Correos and Telegraphs, S. A. Of another, services falling under the material scope of the universal postal service are provided under conditions of free market outside the public service obligations imposed on the postal service provider universal. For the provision of these services it is necessary to have the corresponding singular administrative authorisation.

Finally, in accordance with recital 18 of Directive 97 /67/EC, postal services other than traditional postal services may be provided with a mere declaration of respect for postal services. essential requirements which are the condition for the operation of the new Spanish postal model. These requirements, together with the protection of fundamental rights such as secrecy in postal communications, include respect for the rules that protect the rights of workers and users and the laws of the Member States. tax or immigration.

In Title I, the law defines its scope of application, which includes the regulation of the universal postal service, the rights of users of postal services understood as the transfer of the obligation of the State of ensure that the service is in accordance with certain quality parameters and a postal market fully adapted to the Community rules. To this end, it defines the nature, content and scheme of the provision of postal services, and excludes from its scope of regulation the services provided under self-provision and those relating to consignments without postal address of the consignee. The present text has improved the delimitation of this concept in order to prevent it from being a potential disruptive element of the postal model, preventing the provision of genuine postal services by means of self-provision. provided for in law.

Title II deals with the rights of users by clearly defining the legal position of users in order to ensure the best transparency of the postal market and the achievement of the level of quality required. The allocation of these rights operates as a parameter of the State's obligation to ensure the provision of the postal service and to define the quality required for the postal service. The rights collected here are intimately connected with the obligation of the State to guarantee a universal postal service that adapts its organization and regime to the successive requirements of quality according to the technical means available. In this way, the pioneering role developed by the Spanish Post Office in the Universal Postal Union is maintained.

Title II therefore faces the necessary work of systematization of the rights of users and consequently incorporates an authentic charter of rights. It is recognized as such those relating to the secrecy of communications, inviolability of correspondence, protection of personal data, denunciation, compensation, property of postal items, presentation of written to the Public administrations, proof of deposit and delivery of the certified shipments, reissue and rehuse of the postal items and protection of the undelivered shipments. To the above, the right to information on postal services, to the complaint, which entails the correlative obligation on the part of postal operators to establish simple, free and non-free procedures, is added as new. In order for the complaint to be settled within a maximum period of one month and the possibility for users to submit the disputes arising from the postal operators to the knowledge of the Arbitaltas Arbitalos de Consumption, and those that occur in the scope of the universal postal service, to the National Commission of the Postal Sector, and to the identification of the postal operator.

This task has been completed by giving effective force to the exercise of such rights through the corresponding typing of violations for non-compliance.

Title III, which is structured in four chapters, regulates the universal postal service, which is defined as the set of quality postal services determined by the law, provided on a permanent basis throughout the territory. national and at affordable price for all users.

Chapter I next to the concept lists the activities included in the material scope of the universal postal service. This list complies with the limits laid down in the Directive being transposed. The limit for packages in the scope of the universal postal service to 20 kilograms has been chosen.

Chapter II sets out the principles of equity, non-discrimination and continuity as the guiding principles for the provision of the universal postal service, defines the basic conditions for the collection and distribution of postal items for their services. the provision by the designated operator and refers to the plan for the provision of the universal postal service, in accordance with the provisions of the Council of Ministers, for the detailed conditions of its provision. This plan shall set out the minimum network extension and density, the criteria and the procedure for the determination of the net cost and the measures to ensure the permanent improvement of the efficiency and effectiveness of the provision.

It is not possible to ignore the important commitments that the Public Administrations have to assume in accordance with the provisions of Law 11/2007, of June 22, of electronic access of citizens to Public Services, which determines that the postal term has to evolve into a broader concept than the traditional one, while the full development of the Information Society takes place, the time at which the physical and telematic means of notification must coexist.

Chapter III imposes the obligation to carry out analytical accounting and account separation, regulates the cost and financing of the public service obligations of the universal postal service, taking into account the concepts (a) the financing of the universal postal service, which is designed to compensate for the burden and regulates various additional sources of financing which are, together with that of the State, the postal contribution, the Fee for the granting of special administrative authorisations and the guarantees give the designated operator to ensure the provision of the universal postal service and its proper functioning.

The system of financing the public service obligations imposed on the designated provider of the universal postal service is the guarantee of the financial equilibrium of the provider since it sets up a set of sources of funding that share the effort to contribute to the sustainability of a quality service between the holders of individual administrative authorisations and the designated provider, while providing for the annual contribution of the general budgets of the state as the complement called to subvenir the difference between the financing needs and the limits of contributions from the postal market itself.

The regulation of the respective accounts of the designated operator and of the other postal operators with singular administrative authorisations does not interfere with the general obligations arising from the provisions of the mercantile legislation and are only created to the strict effects provided for in this law.

Chapter IV regulates prices and other tariff conditions for postal services provided under public service obligations, which must be affordable, transparent, non-discriminatory and set out in the the actual costs of the service, in such a way as to incentivise their efficient delivery. The possible fixing of minimum and maximum prices in terms of both their affordability and their adequacy to the financing of the service is foreseen.

Title IV covers several aspects of the previous law, adapting its content to Directive 2008 /6/EC, in relation to the completion of the internal market for Community postal services, for which it regulates, respectively, the General Register of Postal Service Companies, responsible statements and unique administrative authorizations.

In Chapter I, the principle of free competition for the provision of postal services is laid down in the terms laid down by law, taking into account the necessary differentiation between services which are included and not included in the the scope of the universal postal service, and provision is made for the entry in the abovementioned Register of data and acts relating to all postal service providers.

Chapter II sets out the conditions for the provision of services not included in the scope of the universal postal service and, to that end, requires the submission of a responsible declaration and the compliance with the so-called essential requirements for the exercise of postal activity, including, in accordance with the provisions of that Directive, compliance with the provisions of the employment and social security schemes established by law, regulation or administrative decision or collective agreement negotiated between the national social partners in accordance with national or Community law, whose serious or repeated non-compliance is defined as a very serious infringement of Title VII of this Law and determines the loss of validity and effectiveness of the statement.

Chapter III regulates the unique administrative authorisation required for the provision of postal services within the scope of the universal postal service but provided under market conditions, without the the imposition of public service obligations. The granting of the authorization shall require the prior verification of compliance by the postal operator of the essential requirements required in the previous chapter and shall entail the undertaking to comply with the obligations of the quality, territorial extension and material scope that voluntarily offers to its clients, as well as the obligations that are expressly imposed by the law. With regard to the public service obligations referred to in Article 43, apart from those which, in exceptional circumstances, were to be imposed in accordance with the fifth paragraph of Article 22, the design of the service obligations is within the limits laid down in Article 9.2 of Directive 97 /67/EC.

Title V is structured in two chapters, which are intended, respectively, to regulate access to the postal network and other postal infrastructures and to the resolution of conflicts between postal operators.

Postal operators are guaranteed access to the network and other postal infrastructures for the provision of services to which the singular administrative authorisation of the operators concerned is concerned, according to the principles of transparency, proportionality and non-discrimination which are expressly defined for these purposes, and the measures necessary to ensure that the exercise of that right is compatible with the guarantee of integrity, effectiveness and efficiency of the postal network. The designated operator is required to negotiate the conditions of access which will be well established in the standard contract approved by the National Commission of the Postal Sector, or in particular contracts for which the latter will be informed. Commission which is responsible for verifying whether the prices fixed in any of them comply with the principles of transparency, non-discrimination and coverage of the actual cost of the network operator. The obligation to publish a notice of conclusion of each contract is established on the official website of the designated operator and the nullity of those who are contrary to those principles or the compliance with the benefit plan is declared invalid. of the universal postal service.

In this new regulation of the important issue of access to the network of the universal postal service provider has been taken extreme care in ensuring that the benefit that is realized for the benefit of the postal operators is made in market conditions, that is, regardless of the subsidised prices enjoyed by ordinary users of the universal postal service.

Chapter II of this Title regulates conflicts between postal operators and the designated operator for the provision of the universal postal service, the knowledge of which is attributed to the National Postal Service Commission and those who (a) they shall be engaged in between operators other than the one designated for the provision of the said service, who may be subject to the arbitration of the said Commission.

Title VI deals with the institutional framework and, consequently, the administrative bodies responsible for the implementation of this law. It is established that they will have the consideration of the National Postal Regulatory Authority, the government, the higher bodies and directors of the Ministry of Public Works with powers in this field and the National Commission of the Postal Sector. In addition, the Postal Superior Council is regulated as a maximum body for the participation of public administrations, operators, users, trade unions and philatelic associations, to which the functions of consultation will correspond. is attributed to you.

Finally, Title VII regulates inspection, violations and penalties in the postal order. The inspection powers correspond to the National Commission of the Postal Sector, whose officials will be considered agents of the authority and will be invested with the inquisitive powers of its own function, which is none other than that of investigate and correct the conduct of the offenders. The strengthening of the regulation of the inspector's role in the law corresponds directly to its content in terms of the classification of infringements and the sanctioning regime, in which the law makes an important advance in the law. legal certainty and equity, as far as explicit the criteria for graduating the offences which it typifies and points out the maximum penalties for each type of infringer, in line with current trends at European level.

As new in this area, it is also worth noting the declaration as a solidarity-based company of postal operators with respect to the postal offences committed by their employees, from those who succeed the postal operator in the exercise of the activity, and of its administrators in fact or in law, and the possibility of imposing periodic penalty payments to obtain the correction of the offending conduct in the event that voluntary compliance is not produced after the sanctioning procedure has been completed.

The first provision is for a period of 15 years for the "State Post and Telegraph Society, the Company Limited" as an operator entrusted with the provision of the universal postal service, being the only one the entity that is in a position to provide this service with the required quality and extension, and establishes the subscription of a contract for the provision of the said service, which will be held for successive five-year periods, between the Ministries of Economic and Financial Affairs and Development and the designated operator, and where the rights and obligations attributed to the parties. And the second provision provides for the periodic assessment by the Government's Delegated Commission for Economic Affairs of compliance by the designated operator of its obligations.

Furthermore, the additional provisions third to seventh regulate, as the most relevant extremes, the powers of the Assistant Secretary for Development in relation to the setting of minimum services in the field of the postal service universal, the issue and distribution of stamps and other signs of postage, the regime of postal decorations and the designation of honorary postmen, the mentions made in other rules to the aforementioned Law 24/1998, of July 13, which will be understood made to this law, and the seal of excellence of a sustainable postal company, which is created for to encourage the business effort in the postal sector to improve the aspects related to environmental sustainability and to improve the social and working conditions in which the work in the Spanish postal market is carried out. This is a mechanism that from a positive point of view, this is, as a counterpoint of the sanctioning system, aims to encourage the emulation among postal companies to strive to comply with the values that inform the new postal model

As regards the final provisions, it should be noted that the first provision provides for the modification of certain paragraphs of various articles of Law 23/2007 of 8 October, of the creation of the National Commission of the Postal Sector; the second relates to the adoption within one year of the entry into force of this Law of the measure necessary to ensure effective compliance with the promotional census; the third regulates the additional or complementary services to postal services; and lastly, the fourth and fifth final provisions are devoted to the incorporation into Spanish law of Directive 2008 /6/EC and the expression of the title of competence on which the legislative initiative of the State is based, which is contained in Article 149.1.21. of the Constitution.

TITLE I

General provisions

Article 1. Purpose and scope of the law.

1. The purpose of this law is the regulation of postal services in order to guarantee the provision of the universal postal service, to satisfy the needs of postal communication within Spain and Spain abroad, and to ensure free competition in the sector under appropriate conditions of quality, efficiency, efficiency and full respect for the rights of users and postal operators and their employees.

2. All senders or recipients of postal items are entitled to a quality universal postal service at affordable prices, in accordance with European and national implementing rules.

3. They shall be governed by the provisions of this law:

(a) Services for the collection, admission, classification, transport, distribution and delivery of postal items.

(b) The drawing services by which payments are made to natural or legal persons on behalf of and to other persons, through the public postal network and any other services which may or may have a postal nature, in accordance with the rules of the European Union and the Universal Postal Union.

Article 2. Nature and provision of postal services.

Postal services are services of general economic interest that are provided under free competition.

The services included in the universal postal service are subject to public service obligations entrusted to the designated operator in accordance with the first provision, and those which are imposed on the singular administrative authorizations in the terms laid down in this law.

Article 3. Definitions.

For the purposes of this law,

following definitions shall apply:

1. "Postal services" means any services consisting of the collection, admission, classification, transport, distribution and delivery of postal items.

2. "postal shipment" means any object destined to be issued to the address indicated by the sender on the object itself or on its wrapping, once presented in the final form in which it must be collected, transported and delivered. In addition to correspondence items shall include direct advertising, books, catalogues, newspapers, periodicals and postal packages containing goods with or without commercial value, whatever their weight.

They shall not be deemed to be a postal shipment or may be admitted as such shipments containing objects whose traffic or circulation is prohibited or is a criminal offence, in accordance with international laws and conventions in force in Spain. The presumed constitutive of prohibited shipments shall be determined.

The minimum and maximum dimensions of the postal items considered will be those set out in the relevant provisions adopted by the Universal Postal Union.

3. 'Correspondence' means the communication in writing on a physical medium of any kind, which shall be transported and delivered at the address indicated by the sender on the consignment itself or on its wrapping. Direct advertising, books, catalogues, newspapers and periodicals shall not be considered for correspondence.

4. 'certified shipping service' means a service which, after payment of a predetermined amount by default, has a fixed guarantee against the risks of loss, theft or damage, and which provides the sender, where appropriate and at the request of the sender, a proof of deposit of the postal shipment or delivery to the recipient.

5. 'Declared value shipping service' means a service that allows the shipment to be secured by the value declared by the sender, in the event of loss, theft or deterioration.

6. "cross-border mail" means mail with origin or destination in another Member State of the European Union or a third country.

7. 'means of postage' means any effects or signs that credit the postal services to postal operators who provide services included in the universal postal service.

Post stamps, which can only be used by the designated operator with a release effect; envelopes; cards and cards with stamps or distinctive signs previously stamped; impressions of franking machines; and postage stamps issued by automatic distributors installed by the designated operator, as well as how many articles or products are defined by the corresponding provisions as franking instruments.

8. 'postal operator' means the natural or legal person who, in accordance with this law, provides one or more postal services. The third party providing postal services exclusively for a single sender acting under self-provision is excluded from this definition.

9. 'designated operator' means the operator to whom the provision of the universal postal service has been entrusted by the State in accordance with the provisions of this law.

10. 'Administrative authorisation' means the authorisation for the provision of postal services in accordance with the provisions of this law.

11. 'Essential requirements' are grounds of general interest and non-economic interest as set out in Article 40 (2) which serve as the basis for determining the conditions for the provision of postal services.

12. "postal network": for the purposes of this law, the whole of the organisation and of the means of any order, which are used by the designated operator for the provision of the universal postal service, are understood by postal network to permit, in particular:

(a) The collection of postal items at points of access throughout the national territory.

b) The admission by the postal operator of the postal items that are entrusted to him by the sender for the completion of the integral postal process and for which he is responsible.

c) The classification of these shipments from the point of access to the postal network to the distribution center.

d) The transport of postal items effected by any type of media until their final distribution.

e) The distribution made at the destination premises of the postal operator corresponding to where the postal consignment has been transported immediately prior to its final delivery to the recipient of the post.

f) Delivery in the addresses indicated in the shipments, with the provisos to be established regulatively.

13. 'postal network access points' means the physical facilities of the postal operator designated for the provision of the universal postal service where senders may deposit postal items such as mass admission centres, offices, scamettes and mailboxes available to the public.

14. "User" means the natural or legal person or entity without a personality who is a beneficiary of the provision of a postal service as a sender or as a recipient and holder of the rights referred to in Title II of this Law.

15. "Postal address" means the identification of the senders or the recipients by their name and surnames, if they are natural persons, or by their name or social reason in the case of legal persons or entities without personality, as well as of an address, which shall contain the name of the track and the number of the farm, as well as the floor number and the letter, if any, or the data to be established for the delivery of the consignments to the offices of the postal network.

16. "National Regulatory Authority" means the Government, the higher bodies and directors of the Ministry of Public Works and the National Commission of the Postal Sector, competent to exercise the functions and powers that this or other laws or rules assign to them in postal matters. These authorities shall perform their functions with full organic and functional independence from the postal operators and the designated operator.

17. "Services provided on a per unit basis" means postal services, the price of which appears under the general conditions of the designated operator or operators acting within the scope of the universal postal service applicable to postal items individual.

18. 'Sender' means the natural person, legal entity or entity with no personality from whom the postal items originate.

Article 4. Services excluded.

Services carried out under self-provision, as well as services relating to consignments without postal address of the consignee, are excluded from the scope of this law.

It is understood that there is a self-benefit scheme where the provision of the postal services is carried out directly by the sender of the consignments itself, or when it is carried out using a third party acting exclusively, for the same. In the latter case, the services provided to the sender by the third party must comprise the entire postal process for the collection, admission, classification, transport, distribution and delivery of the consignments.

TITLE II

Postal service user rights

Article 5. Secret of postal communications.

Postal operators must perform the provision of services with full guarantee of the secrecy of postal communications, in accordance with the provisions of Articles 18.3 and 55.2 of the Spanish Constitution and in the Article 579 of the Criminal Procedure Act.

Operators providing postal services shall not provide any data relating to the existence of the postal consignment, its class, its external circumstances, the identity of the sender and the addressee or its addresses, without prejudice to the provisions of Article 6.

Article 6. Inviolability of postal items.

1. Postal operators must comply with the duty of fidelity in the custody and management of postal items.

It shall be deemed to be non-compliance with the said duty to the contrary to the right, the intentional abnormal course, the illegal opening, the removal, the destruction, the undue retention and the concealment of the aforementioned postal items.

2. Without prejudice to the right to the ownership of postal items recognised in Article 13, postal items may only be detained or intercepted and, where appropriate, opened by a reasoned decision of the judicial authority in accordance with the law.

3. The staff of the National Commission of the Postal Sector who carry out postal inspection functions may only intervene in postal consignments, in terms which are defined in a regulated manner, where there are reasonable grounds for believing that they contain an object. prohibited or which do not comply with the content stated in their envelope or cover, provided that their prior declaration is required.

The scope of this intervention shall be limited to the external, visual or machine recognition of both the shipments and the accompanying documentation, and shall in no case affect the secrecy and inviolability of the postal items. The immediate destruction of the images taken will be guaranteed.

Submissions that do not contain documents of a current and personal nature, the content of which allows to singularise, in a direct or indirect way, the recipients of the same are excepted from the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

4. The provisions of this Article shall apply without prejudice to the exercise of the powers of control legally recognised by certain officials in the exercise of their inspection functions, such as health, customs, prevention of money laundering or money laundering or any other prevention of the presence of prohibited products, in order to detect the presence of prohibited products.

Article 7. Data protection.

1. According to Organic Law 15/1999 of 13 December on the Protection of Personal Data, operators providing postal services would not be able to provide any information concerning the existence of the postal service, its class, its external circumstances, the identity of the sender and the recipient, or their addresses.

2. The obligation to protect the data shall include the duty of confidentiality of the personal data, the confidentiality of the information transmitted or stored and the protection of privacy.

Article 8. Right to the provision of a quality universal postal service.

Users will be entitled to the provision of a quality universal postal service on a permanent basis, across national territory and at affordable prices.

The scope and effective delivery of the universal postal service shall be in accordance with the principles of social and territorial cohesion, non-discrimination based on any circumstances or personal, social or geographical conditions, continuity, efficiency and efficiency in the service, and must be permanently adapted to the technical, economic, social and territorial conditions and to the needs of users, in particular as regards the density of access points and accessibility to them, without prejudice to their quality.

The universal postal service will be provided in accordance with the rules set out in Title III of this Law. For these purposes, the State shall ensure, by the appointment of an operator and the establishment of sufficient means and guarantees, that the public service obligations of the universal postal service are complied with.

Article 9. Right of information on postal services.

1. All postal operators, including the operator designated to provide the universal postal service, must inform users, in a complete, truthful and timely manner, of the postal services they provide, and shall make available to them all the information relating to the conditions of access, price, level of quality, and the compensation and time limit within which they are to be met, as well as the applicable technical standards. They shall also report on the procedures and means of complaint they have established, and on the resources to be taken.

2. The information referred to in this article will be published in any case on the website of the National Commission of the Postal Sector. Operators will also be able to publish it on their own website or in the offices or points of attention to the user. At the request of the users of the services, such information shall be provided, in writing or through any other means which it is regulated.

Article 10. Claim right.

1. Postal operators must address complaints and complaints submitted to them by users in cases of loss, theft, destruction, deterioration or non-compliance with the quality standards of the service, or any other related non-compliance with the provision of postal services.

2. For the processing of user complaints, postal operators shall establish simple, free and non-discriminatory procedures based on the principles of proportionality and speed. In any event, complaints must be settled in accordance with the law and notified to the persons concerned within the maximum period of one month from the date of their submission, of which the service provider must always receive the person concerned.

In all the offices or points of attention to the user of the postal service providers will be displayed, in a visible and detailed way, the information that allows to know the procedures to be followed to exercise the right to claim as referred to in this article.

3. Users will also be able to submit the disputes that arise with postal operators, in relation to the provision of postal services, to the knowledge of the Arbitration Boards of Consumption, according to the Royal Legislative Decree 1/2007, of 16 November, approving the recast text of the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users and other complementary laws.

4. The National Commission of the Postal Sector will know of the controversies between the users and the operators of the postal services in the field of the universal postal service, as long as they have not been submitted to the Arbitration Boards of Consumption. The complaint may be made within one month from the operator's reply or from the end of the deadline for responding and shall be resolved within a maximum of three months from its submission.

To this end, the National Commission of the Postal Sector will make available to users the appropriate forms. The procedure to be followed for processing will be based on the principles of speed and gratuitousness, without prejudice to the fact that the National Commission of the Postal Sector can have an impact on the complainant on the costs incurred in the procedure when appreciate bad faith or fear in the filing of the complaint. The decision to be taken may be brought before the administrative dispute.

Article 11. Right of denunciation.

Failure to comply with the obligations of the postal operators referred to in Articles 9 and 10 of this Law may be denounced by the users concerned to the National Commission of the Postal Sector for the purposes of provided for in Title VII of this Act.

Article 12. Right to receive compensation.

1. Users shall be entitled, except in cases of force majeure, to receive compensation from postal operators, in the event of loss, theft, destruction or deterioration of postal items certified or of declared value, by payment of a the default amount by the postal operator, in the first case, and a quantity proportional to that declared by the sender, in the second case.

2. The minimum and maximum amount of compensation for the loss, theft, destruction or deterioration of certified consignments, as well as the amount of compensation, shall be fixed by the Minister for Public Works for the purpose of the operator designated for the provision of the universal postal service. the minimum and maximum amount for which consignments under declared value may be secured. The designated operator shall, within the prescribed maximum or minimum limits, determine the corresponding compensation for both cases, in compliance with the criteria laid down by the Minister for Development.

3. Failure to comply with the payment of the compensation awarded to the user, in accordance with the provisions of this Article, may, at the request of a party, give rise to the opening of a file by the National Postal Sector Commission. sanctioning against the corresponding postal operator.

Article 13. Right to the ownership of postal items.

Postal items shall be owned by the sender for postal purposes as long as they do not reach the addressee who may, by payment of the corresponding price, recover them or modify their address, except in the case of alleged material impossibility and without prejudice to the rights of third parties on the content of the material.

Article 14. Right of submission of written submissions to Public Administrations.

Users shall be entitled to submit applications, written and communications addressed to the Public Administrations, in the terms and effects provided for in Article 38.4.c) of Law 30/1992 of 26 November 1992. Legal status of public administrations and the common administrative procedure, only through the offices of the operator designated for the provision of the universal postal service, which must receive them and direct them to the recipient with preferential character and accredit, at the request of the person concerned, both his presentation in the cited offices as their delivery at destination, with express mention of the date and time of both events.

This presentation will have the same effects as in the administrative organ registry to which they are directed.

Users will also be entitled to submit applications, written and communications to the Public Administrations through postal operators other than the operator designated to provide the universal postal service. in the terms laid down in Article 38.4.e) of Law 30/1992 of 26 November 1992 on the Legal Regime of Public Administrations and the Common Administrative Procedure.

Article 15. Right to the identification of the operator.

Users will have the right to identify the postal operator that takes care of the shipment on the shipping cover, as well as the date it is produced.

Article 16. Right to proof of deposit and delivery of certified shipments.

The operator designated to provide the universal postal service shall provide the sender of any certified consignment, at the request of the universal postal service and upon payment of the corresponding amount, as proof of its admission, where Record the date and time of its submission, as well as its receipt by the recipient of its submission.

Other operators, when on a voluntary basis offer certified services to users, must do so under the conditions set out in the preceding paragraph.

Article 17. Right to reissue and shun postal items.

The consignee may request the reissue of his postal items by payment of the corresponding economic consideration, or he may refuse to use them before opening them, of which the operator shall leave on record and inform the sender, who may claim the return of the consignment or arrange for it to be abandoned on the terms that are regulated.

Reexpedition and rehuse rights referred to in this article will not be taken into account in the alleged material impossibility.

In any case, the operator shall be entitled to claim payment of the costs incurred by the sender.

Article 18. Right to the protection of undelivered shipments.

Rules will be established to follow for cases where shipments, for any cause, cannot, be delivered to the recipient or returned to the sender. Such rules shall include those relating to the procedure for the investigation of the domicile, provenance and destination, hearing or summons of the senders and eventual temporary storage, reclamation and destruction of the shipments.

Article 19. Rights to information and presentation of complaints, complaints and writings of persons with disabilities.

It will be guaranteed, in terms that are regulated in the regulations of the development of Law 51/2003, of December 2, of equal opportunities, non-discrimination and universal accessibility of persons with disability, that the rights of information and the filing of complaints, complaints and writing about postal services, are fully accessible to such persons, including, in particular, the removal of architectural barriers and communication from the offices where the service is provided, from those that limit the exercise of the right by persons with hearing or visual impairment or any other persons who prevent or restrict them, as well as the universal accessibility of websites or websites.

TITLE III

The Universal Postal Service

CHAPTER I

Concept and Scope

Article 20. Concept.

It is understood by universal postal service the set of quality postal services determined in the law and its regulations of development, provided in ordinary and permanent regime throughout the national territory and at the price affordable for all users.

Article 21. Scope.

1. The activities for the collection, admission, classification, transport, distribution and delivery of national and cross-border postal consignments under ordinary rules are included in the scope of the universal postal service:

(a) Cards and postcards containing written communications in any type of support up to two kilograms in weight.

b) Postal packages, with or without commercial value, of up to twenty kilograms of weight.

The universal postal service shall also include the provision of the declared certificate and value services, accessories for the consignments referred to in this paragraph.

2. National and cross-border consignments of direct advertising, books, catalogues, periodicals and other publications, the circulation of which is not prohibited, shall be admitted for remission under the universal postal service provided that it is carried out in accordance with one of the procedures laid down in the previous paragraph.

CHAPTER II

Universal postal service delivery conditions payable to the operator designated by the State

Article 22. Principles and requirements for the provision of the universal postal service.

1. The provision of the universal postal service as well as the relations of users with the designated operator shall be governed by the principles of equity, non-discrimination, continuity, good faith, and adaptation to the needs of users.

For these purposes:

a) Equity: offering users who are in similar conditions the same treatment and identical benefits.

(b) Non-discrimination: provide the service without differentiation of any kind between users who are in similar conditions, especially those derived from political, religious, racial, sexual considerations, cultural or ideological or disability.

c) Continuity: not to interrupt or suspend the service, except in cases of force majeure and prior to communication to the National Commission of the Postal Sector, which may refuse it.

2. After the period of 15 years referred to in the Additional Provision of this Law, one or more undertakings may be designated as providers of the universal service in such a way as to cover the entire national territory. Different undertakings may also be designated for the provision of various elements of the universal service or cover different parts of the national territory. The conditions for the award of the universal service shall be based on principles of transparency, non-discrimination and proportionality, in order to ensure the continuity of the provision of universal service, taking into account the importance of the role it plays in social and territorial cohesion.

The operator designated by the State for the provision of the universal postal service shall be exempt from the taxes on its activity linked to the universal postal service, except the corporation tax.

3. The provision of the universal postal service shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions legally established and those contained in the Universal Postal Service's Delivery Plan approved by the Government and in the regulatory contract, prior to Report of the National Postal and Postal Sector Commission. Such a contract shall have a special administrative contract.

In any case, the plan must include, inter alia, the conditions for the provision of the universal postal service, particularly in areas where there is a very low population density, the procedure for assessment of the cost of the said service and its form of financing and the criteria to be taken into account in determining the contribution to it by the State, in accordance with Article 29.

In addition, the Plan will take into consideration the Fund for the Financing of the Universal Postal Service, referred to in Article 29.

4. The performance of the designated operator shall be based on the presumption of veracity and performance in the distribution, delivery and receipt of, or failure to deliver, notifications of administrative and judicial bodies, both those carried out by means of physical, as telematic, and without prejudice to the application, to the different cases of notification, to the provisions of Law 30/1992, of 26 November, of the Legal Regime of Public Administrations and of the Administrative Procedure Common.

The notifications made by the other postal operators shall take effect in accordance with the rules of common law and shall be applied in accordance with the provisions of Article 59 of Law No 30/1992 of 26 November 1992. Legal status of public administrations and the common administrative procedure.

5. The Government may impose on the operator designated to provide the universal postal service other public service obligations, where this is required by reasons of general interest or social or territorial cohesion, improvement of the quality of education and civil protection, or necessary to safeguard the normal development of electoral processes, in accordance with the provisions of the rules governing the general electoral system. It may also impose on the said operator and the operators providing postal services under a single administrative authorisation public service obligations under extraordinary circumstances to ensure public security or national defense.

The imposition of additional public service obligations should be the subject of compensation.

Article 23. Conditions for the collection and admission of postal items.

The operator or operators designated by the State for the provision of the universal postal service shall:

a) Perform at least one collection at the points of access to the postal network every working day, from Monday to Friday, regardless of population density and even in rural areas.

All zones referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be defined.

(b) To provide adequate coverage to the territorial scope for which it has been designated, and in particular to ensure the density of access points to the postal services provided for in the provision plan and accessibility to the above mentioned points of persons with disabilities of any kind, as well as of persons with reduced mobility, in accordance with what is established in law.

(c) Do not refuse admission of shipments when they meet regulatory requirements and the corresponding price is met.

The maximum and minimum dimensions of the postal items eligible for the postal network will be those set out in the rules that incorporate into Spanish law those approved by the Universal Postal Union.

Article 24. Conditions for the distribution and delivery of postal items.

The operator designated by the State for the provision of the universal postal service shall make delivery of the consignments in the postal address listed on its cover. It shall also ensure the delivery of postal items for which the address still incomplete permits identification of the consignee.

Deliveries shall be made at least every working day, from Monday to Friday, except in the case of special geographical circumstances or circumstances, as provided for in this Law and in its implementing legislation. In particular, a delivery shall be made in appropriate facilities other than the postal address, subject to the authorization of the National Commission of the Postal Sector, when the conditions laid down in the provisions of this law are met, as provided for in Directive 97 /67/EC.

For the purposes of the preceding paragraph, areas of very low population density will be defined, among which rural areas will not be included.

Postal items to be distributed in a postal address will be deposited in the lockers installed for the purpose, which must meet the conditions laid down in regulation. These conditions shall include those relating to the way in which the reservation of one of them, at each postal address, is to be made for the return of postal items.

Shipments, according to the type in question, will be delivered to the recipient or to the person who is authorized or will be deposited in the postal lockers or in the mailboxes, individual or collective.

The addressee shall be entitled to receive the consignment at his address any person who is in the address, stating his or her identity and taking charge of them, except that there is express opposition from the addressee. in writing addressed to the designated operator providing the universal postal service.

Article 25. Delivery and delivery times for postal items.

The Provision Plan referred to in Article 22.3 shall set the operator or operators designated to provide the universal postal service with the objectives of the delivery times for the provision of the said service, as well as the economic consequences of their non-compliance.

Without prejudice to the foregoing, failure to comply with the stated objectives may be sanctioned in accordance with the provisions of Title VII of this Law.

For the purposes of this Article, they shall have value equivalent to the parameters set by the Agreement of the Council of Ministers cited in the rules approved at the level of the European Union for the services of the

intra-Community transfrontier

CHAPTER III

Cost and financing of the public service obligations of the universal postal service entrusted to the designated operator

Article 26. An obligation to carry out analytical accounting and account separation.

1. The designated operator must carry an analytical accounting, which allows the cost of the provision of the various services to be known. The designated supplier shall carry in its internal accounting systems separate accounts in such a way that the services and products which are part of the universal service and the other non-forming services and products are clearly differentiated between each other. part of the same. Such internal accounting systems shall be based on consistently applied and objectively justifiable accounting principles.

There will be separate accounts, at least, for each of the services included in the scope of the universal postal service.

2. Without prejudice to paragraph 3, the accounting system referred to in paragraph 1 shall impute the costs as follows:

(a) costs that may be directly imputed to a particular service or product shall be imputed to that service or product;

(b) common costs, i.e. those that cannot be directly imputed to a particular service or product, shall be charged as follows:

b1) whenever possible, the common costs shall be charged on the basis of a direct analysis of their origin,

b2) where a direct analysis is not possible, the common cost categories shall be imputed on the basis of an indirect link with another category or group of cost categories for which it is possible to carry out direct allocation or allocation; the indirect link shall be based on comparable cost structures

b3) where direct or indirect measures cannot be found for the allocation of costs, the cost category shall be charged on the basis of a general imputation factor calculated using the ratio of all expenditure assigned or imputed directly or indirectly, on the one hand, to each of the services of the universal postal service and, on the other, to the other services,

b4) the common costs, which are necessary for the provision of both universal postal service and non-universal services, will be charged in an appropriate manner; the same parameters of costs to universal services and non-universal services.

3. The designated operator may apply other accounting systems provided that at least it differentiates in a clear manner the services and products that are part of the universal postal service for which they are not part of the postal service and are based on accounting principles consistently applied and objectively justifiable.

4. The other postal operators who provide services within the scope of the universal postal service must keep separate accounts of the revenue, so that the income from the provision of services can be differentiated. services included in the said scope, of the income obtained by the provision of other services. Operators shall be obliged to audit their annual accounts in accordance with the provisions of Law 19/1988 of 12 July of Audit of Accounts.

5. The Accounting and Audit Institute of Accounts shall develop and develop the principles, criteria and cost allocation system to be observed in the analytical accounting referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, which, after Report of the National Commission of the Postal Sector, the Postal Superior Council and the General Intervention of the State Administration will be approved by order of the Minister of the Presidency, on the joint proposal of the Ministers of Economy and Finance.

Likewise, in that order the rules applicable to the accounting referred to in paragraph 4 and the assumptions in which the holders of singular administrative authorizations are required to provide information shall be determined financial activity, including the audits to which they are required, and shall set out the form and assumptions in which information may be provided to third parties, including the European Union Commission, by ensuring the confidentiality of the data, the commercial and industrial secrecy and the principle of minimum intervention.

6. Without prejudice to the functions of public audit attributed by Law 47/2003, of November 26, General Budget to the General Intervention of the State Administration, the National Commission of the Postal Sector will ensure the correct the application of the provisions of the rules on analytical accounting and the separation of accounts of postal operators and shall verify annually, by itself or through an independent entity of the universal postal service provider, the analytical accounts of the designated operator.

Likewise and without prejudice to the performance of the tax inspection, the National Commission of the Postal Sector may verify the correct application of the rules of separation of accounts referred to in this article.

This verification may be performed directly by the services of the National Postal Sector Commission or through an independent company.

Article 27. Net cost of public service obligations of the universal postal service.

1. The National Postal Sector Commission shall annually verify the net cost of the public service obligations of the universal postal service imposed on the designated operator, subject to the provisions of the contract for the provision of the postal service.

2. The determination of the net cost shall be performed taking into account the following criteria:

(a) The net cost of universal service obligations shall be calculated as the difference between the net cost of the designated operator providing the universal postal service operating with public service obligations and the same postal service provider if it operates without the above obligations.

(b) In this calculation, account shall be taken of any other relevant element, such as guarantees and intangible and market advantages that the designated operator may enjoy for the provision of the postal service. universal, the right to obtain a reasonable profit and the incentives aimed at obtaining efficiency in costs. The calculation of the net cost shall be based on the imputable costs in accordance with Annex I to Directive 97 /67/EC.

In the Provision Plan referred to in Article 22.3 of this Law, the technical criteria and the procedure for determining the net cost, which shall be previously reported by the Postal Superior Council, shall be established.

3. The designated operator shall submit to the National Commission of the Postal Sector, in accordance with the criteria and procedure referred to in the previous paragraph, the calculation of the net cost of each financial year for verification. For these purposes, the designated operator shall provide as much additional information as is required or deemed appropriate.

Article 28. Financing of the public service obligations of the universal postal service imposed on the designated operator.

The National Commission of the Postal Sector will determine, after a mandatory report by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the amount of the unfair financial burden that the public service obligations of the postal service entail. universal for the designated operator.

To this effect, the result of undermining the net cost in the amount in which the adjustments resulting from the non-compliance with the efficiency conditions laid down in the Plan of Action are quantified shall be understood as unfair financial burden. the provision referred to in Article 22 of this Law. The amount of the unfair financial burden shall be compensated by the financing fund set up in the following

.

Article 29. Funding fund.

1. A universal postal service funding fund is created in order to manage the financing necessary to offset the unfair financial burden referred to in the previous article.

The fund, which will be managed and subject to independent accounting by the National Postal Sector Commission and will not have its own legal personality or the nature of those provided for in Article 2 (2) of the Law 47/2003, of 26 November, General Budget, will be nourished by the following contributions:

(a) Transfers in favour of the fund entered in the general budget of the State, in accordance with the provisions of the following Article.

(b) The public property benefits as set out in Articles 31 and 32, which are affected to this end.

c) Donations or legacies made by any natural or legal person who wishes to contribute to the financing of the universal postal service.

d) Yields derived from deposits in which the fund's availabilities are maintained.

The National Postal Sector Commission will ensure that the amounts that the fund takes through the different concepts are sufficient to meet the needs for which it is created, to which it will propose to the Ministries of Promotion and Economic and Finance the measures it deems appropriate, both in the normative order and in the manager.

2. The National Commission of the Postal Sector shall, on a quarterly basis, transfer to the designated operator, on account of the results of the annual clearance of the financial burden, the amounts available in the Fund.

The Commission shall keep an accounting of the fund in which it consists of the amounts entered and transfers made to the operator.

Once the net cost and the unfair financial burden of the corresponding year are determined, the balance to be paid to the operator shall be fixed, or the operator shall be reintegrated, as appropriate, after hearing the operator. The resolution determining the above measures shall be published in the electronic seat of the Commission.

Article 30. State funding.

The State shall contribute to the financing of the universal postal service, in accordance with the benefit plan approved by the Government referred to in Article 22, by contributing to the financing fund the amount which, to this effect, is consign in the budget section of the Ministry of Public Works.

Article 31. Postal contribution.

1. Holders of singular administrative authorisations, and the designated operator, shall be obliged to meet an annual contribution, the taxable fact of which is the provision of postal services in the field of the universal postal service by means of singular administrative authorisation. This contribution shall be fully intended to cover the financing needs of the unfair financial burden referred to in Article 28 of this Law.

2. The taxable persons of this contribution are the holders of a singular administrative authorisation whose annual turnover, derived from the activities carried out in the field of the universal postal service, exceeds EUR 50 000 or (a) proportionally in the years of commencement or cessation of activity.

3. The taxable amount of the contribution is the net amount of the turnover that the holder of the administrative authorisation obtains in each tax period for the provision of the postal services covered by the approved scope.

4. Unless the general budget law of the State of each year determines otherwise, the rate of charge shall be 0,5 per cent. The contribution fee shall be determined by application of the rate in force in each year to the applicable tax base.

5. The contribution shall be made on 31 December of each year, unless the operator ceases the activity or loses the administrative authorisation for the cause of the imputable on the previous date, in which case it shall become due on the date on which such a circumstance has taken place.

6. Holders of singular administrative authorisations to whom universal postal service obligations are imposed in accordance with Article 43.2.a) of this Act shall be exempt from this contribution.

7. The taxable persons of this contribution shall settle and enter the quota within the month of July of the year following that of their accrual.

8. The management of the contribution and its inspection corresponds to the National Commission of the Postal Sector.

For these purposes, the Commission may subscribe to the State Agency of the Tax Administration for collaboration agreements to ensure that it carries out tax inspections on its behalf.

9. The operator who has been providing postal services without the corresponding individual administrative authorisation shall be obliged to pay the contribution which corresponds to the whole period of actual activity prior to the granting of the authorisation, without prejudice to the prescription.

10. The model and the winding-up procedure shall be established.

Article 32. Fee for the granting of singular administrative authorizations.

1. In order to obtain the singular administrative authorisation for the provision of postal services falling within the scope of the universal postal service, the persons and entities applying for such authorisation shall pay a fee to be used for the provision of postal services. the financing of the unfair financial burden referred to in Article 28 of this Law.

2. The management of this tribute will be the responsibility of the National Postal Sector Commission.

3. It is the taxable fact of the fee to grant unique administrative authorisations to provide services within the scope of the universal postal service.

4. The fee to be entered, to be made prior to the granting of the authorization, shall be EUR 1,500, without prejudice to any updates that may be made to the general budget laws of the State of each year.

5. The procedure for the levy and the form of the form for payment shall be laid down.

Article 33. Guarantees.

In order to ensure the provision of the universal postal service and its proper functioning, the designated operator is guaranteed:

(a) The right to the exclusive use of the name "Correos", of the term "Spain", of the emblem consisting of a cornamusa in which the crown of Spain is also included, or of any other sign identifying the operator designated or the nature of the services it provides within such a scope.

(b) The occupation of the public domain, for the establishment of the postal network, by the installation of mailboxes intended to deposit postal items, subject to the authorization of the competent authority of the managing authority of the that. The holders of the public domain may not, for this purpose, treat the operator concerned as discriminatory, in respect of that granted to other operators.

c) The condition of the beneficiary in the process of forced expropriation due to public utility, which will be subject to the special urgency procedure provided for in Article 52 of the Compulsory Expropriation Act of 16 December of 1954, for the performance of the works and installations necessary for the organisation of the provision of the universal postal service.

(d) The transfer of spaces by entities managing the network of railways, ports and airports for the activities and benefits of the universal postal service.

e) The distribution of the postage stamps or other means of postage, the retail sale may be carried out through the postal network or through third parties.

CHAPTER IV

Prices and other tariff conditions for postal services

Article 34. Prices.

1. The prices of postal services provided under public service obligations should be affordable, transparent and non-discriminatory and should be fixed taking into account the actual costs of the service, in such a way as to provide incentives for the efficient delivery of the same.

2. The designated operator must inform the National Postal Service Commission of both the establishment of new prices and the modification of the prices already in force for the services provided with public service obligations with at least three months in advance of the date laid down for its implementation. The communication shall be accompanied by a supporting document on compliance with the principles set out in this Article.

In the assumption that the price verification will result in the failure to comply with these principles, the National Postal Sector Commission will give the operator a period of 15 days to maintain what it deems appropriate and will dictate. the relevant resolution stating as appropriate, for the purposes of its consideration in the calculation of the load referred to in Article 28. Prices shall be published on the websites of the Commission and the designated operator.

3. The following services provided by the designated operator for the provision of the universal postal service shall be exempt from payment of the price:

a) Cecogram shipments.

(b) The shipments to which the Universal Postal Union confers such right, with the scope established in international instruments that have been ratified by Spain.

4. For services subject to public service obligations within the universal postal service, the Government Delegation for Economic Affairs, on a proposal from the Ministry of Public Works and prior report of the National Commission of the Sector Postal services may set maximum and minimum prices in order to ensure compliance with the principles set out in paragraph 1 of this Article. The application of uniform prices throughout the national territory may also be determined for that area.

Article 35. Special discounts and prices to users.

1. Where the operator designated for the provision of the universal postal service applies discounts to the senders of bulk mail, in the provision of the services for which it has been designated, it shall respect the principles of transparency and non-discrimination, both in terms of prices and associated conditions. The designated operator shall offer the same special discounts or prices, together with the associated conditions, to other users, such as private individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises or associations and associations declared to be of use public, provided that they carry out shipments under similar conditions.

2. The National Postal Sector Commission may require the designated operator to submit the contracts referred to in the previous paragraph to verify compliance with the principles and duties set out in this Article.

3. The National Postal Sector Commission will verify that the special prices and discounts do not increase the financing needs of the Universal Postal Service and the unfair financial burden to the designated operator.

Article 36. Franking and payment systems for services.

The designated operator must admit all shipments if they are presented with the means of postage described in this Law. In addition, you may agree with your customers on any other payment systems, such as deferred payment, postage and prepayment, as well as any other means admitted in law.

TITLE IV

General Delivery Regime for Postcard Services

CHAPTER I

General provisions

Article 37. Arrangements for the provision of postal services.

1. The provision of postal services shall be carried out under free competition without further limitations than those laid down in this law and its implementing rules.

2. Postal services, on the basis of the conditions required for their provision, are classified in the following categories

(a) Services included in the scope of the universal postal service, in accordance with the provisions of Article 21 of this Law.

b) Services not included in the scope of the universal postal service.

Article 38. Conditions for the provision of postal services.

1. For the provision of postal services, compliance with the conditions laid down in this law shall be required, including for those operators acting on behalf, representation or account of other postal operators.

2. Natural persons with the nationality of a Member State of the European Union or any legal person referred to in Article 48 of the Treaty may be established and provided on Spanish territory. European and established in a Member State, or with another nationality where that is provided for in the international conventions or agreements in which the Spanish State is a party. In any case, the operator must have at least one permanent establishment in Spanish territory and inform the General Register of Postal Services of Postal Services of the electronic and postal addresses and the identification data of the their representative for the purposes of communications and notifications, without prejudice to the authorisations that they carry out.

Article 39. General Register of Postal Service Companies.

1. All administrative situations, as well as data relating to postal service providers, must be registered in the General Register of Postal Service Companies, which will depend on the National Commission of the Sector Postal and will be public in nature.

2. The registration in the Registry, as well as the annual renewal thereof, shall be carried out on its own initiative by the National Commission of the Postal Sector on the basis of the information contained in the responsible declaration or, where appropriate, in the authorization singular administrative, according to the regime applicable to the service provided.

3. The operation of the Register and the procedure for registration of ups, downs and variations shall be regulated.

CHAPTER II

Responsible Statements

Article 40. Scope and conditions of responsible statements.

1. Those intending to provide postal services not included in the scope of the universal postal service shall provide the National Commission of the Postal Sector with a responsible declaration in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter.

2. They are considered essential requirements for the provision of postal services, respect, in accordance with Article 18.3 of the Spanish Constitution, the right to the inviolability of correspondence, the obligation to protect data and the privacy, as well as those established by the sectoral regulations on the safety of the operation of the network in the field of transport of dangerous substances, public health, animal health, environmental protection and spatial planning, as well as (i) compliance with the provisions of the established employment and social security schemes by law, regulation or administrative decision or collective agreement negotiated between the national social partners under national and Community law.

Article 41. Content of the declaration.

1. The responsible statement shall be submitted on the basis of the start of the activity and shall be expressly stated as follows:

(a) The manifestation of the fact that it knows and abides by its obligation to comply at all times with the requirements for access and exercise of the postal activity, the essential requirements set out in Article 40.2 and, in particular, that it is commits to strict respect for the rights referred to in Title II of this Law, excluding those of Article 8, as well as to those established, in general, in labor, tax, foreign and security legislation rights of consumers and users.

b) That meets the requirements set forth in the above letter and that it has the documents that so credit, at the time of making the declaration.

c) The commitment to maintain the requirements established during the lifetime of the activity and to communicate to the General Registry any changes that occur in them.

d) The commitment to provide all the necessary information to clearly define the service that is proposed to be provided and any other additional information requested by the National Postal Sector Commission.

2. The presentation of the responsible declaration enables for the exercise of the activity concerned throughout the Spanish territory, without prejudice to the payment of the fee for registration in the General Register of postal service providers and, after hearing the person concerned and by means of a reasoned decision, be deprived of validity and effectiveness, where it is established that the required requirements are not met. The adoption of this resolution will lead to the cancellation of registration and publication in the form that the National Commission of the Postal Sector considers sufficient.

By order of the Minister of Public Works the model of responsible declaration will be approved, which can be presented by electronic means.

3. For the purposes of this law, registration in the register governed by Article 53 of Law 16/1987 of 30 July on the Management of Land Transport will also enable the provision of postal services not included in the field of transport. of the universal postal service, without prejudice to the presentation to the National Commission of the Postal Sector of the corresponding responsible declaration.

For these purposes, the Ministry of Public Works and the National Commission of the Postal Sector will agree on the necessary measures for the interconnection of the General Register of postal services companies and the General Register of carriers and companies of ancillary and complementary transport activities.

CHAPTER III

Unique administrative authorities

Article 42. Scope of the singular administrative authorities.

A singular administrative authorisation shall be required for the execution of any benefits in relation to the services included in the scope of the universal postal service, in the terms defined in Article 21.1.

Article 43. Requirements for obtaining the unique administrative authorisations and obligations of their holders.

1. The individual administrative authorisations shall be granted on a regulated basis, subject to accreditation of the applicant's compliance with the requirements required under this Title for the provision of the service in question included in the scope of the universal postal service and the assumption by this of the conditions referred to in Article 41.1, as well as the quality, territorial extension and material scope of the service which voluntarily offers to its clients.

2. The applicant shall also assume the following obligations:

(a) The public service which, in accordance with the provisions of this law, is imposed, if applicable, and with the obligation to be subject to the provisions of Title III of this Law, as determined in the resolution corresponding. The imposition of these obligations shall be carried out with respect to the limitations laid down in Article 9.2 of Directive 97 /67/EC.

(b) Do not disturb, in the provision of postal services, the rights established to compensate the designated operator for the provision of the universal postal service.

c) To provide the National Commission of the Postal Sector with all the information required, in order to monitor compliance with the provisions of this law or for statistical purposes, without prejudice to the privileges of other administrative bodies or bodies.

d) The publication of an annual report containing information on the number of complaints submitted by the users of the postal services included in the scope of the universal service it provides and the manner in which they were processed and resolved.

Article 44. Procedure for granting singular administrative authorizations.

1. Those interested in the provision of a postal service for which special administrative authorisation is required shall direct their applications, with the required documentation, to the National Commission of the Postal Sector.

2. Applications shall contain the particulars referred to in Article 70.1 of Law No 30/1992 of 28 November 1992, of the Legal Regime of the General Administration and of the Common Administrative Procedure, and shall be processed in accordance with the procedure established in that law and its implementing rules.

3. After a period of three months without having issued and notified express resolution, the application may be deemed to be considered. The decision to be taken may be brought before the administrative dispute.

TITLE V

Access to the postal network of operators and conflict resolution between them

CHAPTER I

Access to the postal network and other postal infrastructures

Article 45. Access to the postal network of postal operators.

1. Postal operators are guaranteed access to the postal network, in respect of the services referred to in the singular administrative authorisation, in accordance with the principles of transparency, proportionality and non-compliance. discrimination. For these purposes, transparency, prior disclosure of the conditions of access, proportionality, the adequacy of the availability of the designated operator and the needs of the person concerned, and non-discrimination, access to without differentiation of any kind between the operators and the subsidiaries of the designated operator or the entities involved in it, provided that they are in similar conditions, in particular those arising from political considerations, religious, racial, sexual, cultural or ideological.

In order to maintain the integrity, efficiency and efficiency of the network, shipments must be presented at the mass admission centres and continue in the network until the final distribution, in non-discriminatory terms. to those applied by the designated operator to its subsidiaries or participating entities.

2. The operator designated to provide the universal postal service must draw up a contract of type access to the postal network, which will be approved in advance by the National Commission of the Postal Sector and published on the website of the operator and its own Commission. Such a contract must comply with the provisions of Law 7/1998 of 13 April of general conditions of employment.

3. Without prejudice to the provisions of the preceding paragraph, operators holding individual administrative authorisations may negotiate with the operator designated conditions other than those laid down in the contract type of access to the postal network. which, in any case, must ensure the quality of the service and respect for the general conditions published.

In the event that these negotiations have not been concluded in the conclusion of a contract for non-agreement between the parties, any of them may request the National Commission of the Postal Sector to establish the conditions of access, which shall be binding on both parties.

To this effect, the National Commission of the Postal Sector will decide on the conditions of access in accordance with the principles of proportionality, transparency, non-discrimination and guarantee of the right of access to the operator's network (a) the right to provide services for the purpose of the provision of services, including the provision of services for the provision of services, and the provision of services for the provision of services, including the provision of services, and the provision of services. The resolution shall be used in the administrative-administrative procedure.

4. The designated operator shall inform the National Commission of the Postal Sector of the contracts it holds without being subject to the standard contract. Where the Commission considers that such contracts are contrary to competition law, it will be brought to the attention of the National Competition Commission.

Where such contracts are contrary to the principles, requirements or conditions referred to in Chapter II of Title III or to the fulfilment of the universal postal service delivery plan, they shall be void of full right. In this case, the Commission shall, by means of a decision, declare the contract null and void, after hearing the parties.

5. In any event, both for individual contracts and for the standard contract, the Commission shall verify that the tariffs laid down therein comply with the principles of transparency, non-discrimination and cover of the cost of the holder of the contract. network, and will verify that these tariffs do not increase the financing needs of the universal postal service and the unfair financial burden to the service provider.

The National Commission of the Postal Sector may develop the criteria for determining the rates of contracts in accordance with the principles set out in the previous paragraph. Such criteria may include the granting of discounts on access to the network linked to the volume and characteristics of the consignments.

Article 46. Postal network access fees for postal operators.

The rates of access to the postal network may take into account, inter alia, the timing of the submission of the consignments, their volume, distribution destination, classification and preparation grade, and may not assume economic losses for the network operator.

Also, for the fixing of the tariffs, the cost will be weighted to the designated operator and, where appropriate, the cost to the operator.

Article 47. Access to other infrastructures.

The conditions of access of the holders of singular administrative authorizations will be determined in a transparent and non-discriminatory way to other postal infrastructures such as the system of postal code, the address database, the postal items, the distribution mailboxes, the address change information, the reissue service or the return service to the sender, provided that this is necessary for to protect the interests of users or to promote real competition, according to modalities technical and tariff arrangements provided for in the agreements signed to this end with the designated operator, all without prejudice to the provisions of the data protection rules.

The National Postal Sector Commission will ensure that the principles of transparency and non-discrimination in such access are observed.

CHAPTER II

Resolution of conflicts between postal operators

Article 48. Conflict resolution between postal operators and the designated operator for the provision of the universal postal service.

1. The National Commission of the Postal Sector shall resolve any disputes arising between the designated operator and other postal operators carrying out services falling within the scope of the universal postal service in relation to access to the postal service. postal network as well as other elements of the postal infrastructure and postal services, in particular as provided for in the second subparagraph of Article 45 (3), all in accordance with Article 16 of Law 23/2007, 8 October, the creation of the National Commission of the Postal Sector.

2. The procedure for resolving these conflicts shall be consistent with the principles of hearing, contradiction, equality between the parties.

When the Commission appreciates recklessness or bad faith it may impose a fine up to 5 percent of the amount claimed or, if indeterminate, up to 5 percent of the share capital or equity, with a minimum of 2,000 euros, more the payment of the costs incurred.

The fines and expenses incurred will have the nature of public law credits and will be required by the administrative route of the award.

Article 49. Conflict between non-designated operators for the provision of the universal postal service.

Postal operators may submit to the arbitration of the National Commission of the Postal Sector the conflicts that arise between them, subject to the procedural rules provided for in the General Development Regulation of the Law 23/2007, of October 8, of the creation of the National Commission of the Postal Sector.

TITLE VI

National Regulatory Authority

Article 50. National Regulatory Authority.

1. They will have the consideration of the National Postal Regulatory Authority:

(a) The Government, in the exercise of regulatory authority.

(b) The higher bodies and directors of the Ministry of Public Works, in accordance with the powers conferred upon them by the rules in force.

c) The National Postal Sector Commission, in accordance with its law of creation.

2. It is up to the Government to have the original regulatory authority in the postal sector, to the Ministry of Public Works, the regulation and implementation of the postal policy and to the National Commission of the Postal Sector, the supervision and regulation of the postal market, all in accordance with their specific rules and without prejudice to the powers of the Commission of the European Union in accordance with Community rules.

3. Entities providing the National Regulatory Authority with documents, data, reports or records may, in a justified manner, indicate which part of the contribution they consider to be of commercial or industrial importance, the dissemination of which could (a) to be prejudicial to them, for the purposes of declaring their confidentiality in respect of any persons or entities outside the National Regulatory Authority. The National Regulatory Authority shall decide, in a reasoned manner, on the information which, according to the legislation in force, is exempted from commercial or industrial secrecy or the confidentiality of information.

Article 51. The Postal Superior Council.

1. The Postal Superior Council is the highest participation organ of the Public Administrations, the users, the postal service providers, the unions, which have the consideration of more representative both at the State level and autonomic, and philatelic associations in postal matters.

2. The Council shall be chaired by the Deputy Secretary for Development or the person to whom it delegates and shall be assigned the advisory functions of the Government in postal matters to determine its development standard.

The president may agree that the sessions will be held by the written procedure or by electronic means.

TITLE VII

Inspection, violations, and sanctions

Article 52. Competence.

The National Postal Sector Commission shall exercise the inspection and penalty competition in relation to the postal market in accordance with its specific regulations and in this title.

Article 53. Powers of inspection and duty of collaboration.

1. Officials of the National Commission of the Postal Sector who perform postal inspection functions shall be deemed to be agents of the authority in their service or for the purpose of such acts and must prove their condition if they are required. for this purpose outside the public offices.

The public authorities shall provide the necessary protection and assistance to those officials for the exercise of their duties where required.

2. The subjects submitted to the investigation shall be responsible for the inspection and shall give due collaboration in the development of their duties. Where they are required to do so, they shall, by themselves or by means of a representative, on the spot, day and time indicated for the practice of the proceedings, and must provide or have at the disposal of the Inspectorate the documents and other records requested.

3. Postal service providers and those who are at their service shall be obliged to provide the inspection staff with access to their facilities and to any place where there is or may be evidence related to the service. investigation and to allow such personnel to carry out the examination of the elements affected by the services or activities they carry out and how much data, reports or records they have in their possession related to the object of the investigation, without prejudice to the constitutionally recognised rights.

Officials of the postal inspection may also access any place where evidence is found to be related to the postal infringement pursued, and must have its indwelling or any person in that post. provide them with access.

If the person in whose custody the places referred to in the preceding paragraph are located is opposed to the entry of the officials, it shall be specified as a written authorization from the president of the National Postal Sector Commission, which may only be granted where there is a reasonable presumption that this is not a constitutionally protected address.

When in the exercise of the inspector's performance it is necessary to enter the constitutionally protected address of the subject under investigation, the National Commission of the Postal Sector must obtain the consent of the or the appropriate judicial authorisation.

4. Natural or legal persons covered by this Article shall be required to make available to the inspection staff how many books, records and other documents which, in respect of the postal activity, are required of them.

Article 54. Sanctioning procedure and documentation of the inspection actions.

The procedure to be followed for the determination of the faults and the imposition of the sanctions must be subject to the general principles of the administrative procedure sanctioning and, in particular, to the audience of the interested party. and protection of the complainant.

The inspectors shall document their actions by means of minutes, proceedings and reports as determined by regulation.

Article 55. Place of performance of the inspection activities.

1. The actions of the Postal Inspectorate may be developed, at the choice of the actuary:

a) In any office, office, or dependency of the person or entity inspected or who represents it.

b) On the premises of the National Postal Sector Commission.

2. Where the actions of verification or investigation are carried out in the places referred to in subparagraph (a) above, the working day of the same shall be observed, without prejudice to the fact that it can be acted upon by common agreement in other hours or days.

Article 56. Infringements and responsible persons.

1. Administrative violations in the postal order are the actions and omissions typified as such in this law.

2. Administrative responsibility for the administrative offences in the postal order laid down in this law shall be required of natural or legal persons as well as the inheritances, communities of goods and other entities lacking of legal personality who make any of the offences listed, without prejudice to the responsibilities in which they may have incurred in relation to, inter alia, civil, tax, foreign or criminal civil rules.

Article 57. Joint responsibility.

1. They shall be jointly and severally liable for the postal offences committed by the employees, in the field of action of the business management and command, the postal service providers of those who are dependent.

2. It shall be liable in solidarity for the offences committed in the provision of postal services using a given trade mark if the holder of the service is to have a concerted action between him and the infringer.

3. The members or co-holders of the entities without legal personality referred to in the previous Article are also jointly and severally liable, as well as those who succeed the infringer by any concept in the exercise of the postal activity in which they the offence has been committed, unless the intention of the offender has not been taken into account in the succession, in so far as it has some management or administration power in such entities.

4. In addition, the administrators of legal persons who have not saved their vote on the occasion of the agreement that would have caused the infringement are jointly and severally responsible.

Article 58. Classification of the Infractions.

Infringements of the regulatory standards for postal services are classified as very serious, serious and minor.

Article 59. Very serious infringements.

Serious violations are considered:

(a) Failure to comply with the obligations arising out of the rights referred to in Articles 5 and 7 (1) and (2) of this Law. In addition, the non-compliance with the obligations set out in Article 6, in the case of consignments of correspondence.

(b) Failure to comply with the principles, requirements and conditions relating to the provision of the universal postal service or the failure to comply with the plan to provide such a service, making it seriously committed.

(c) The provision of postal services without meeting the requirements required by this law or without the special administrative authorization required for such services, provided that it seriously compromises compliance with the public service obligations or the provision of the universal postal service.

(d) Failure to comply with Article 38.2, where it may seriously compromise the achievement of the universal postal service.

e) the serious or repeated non-compliance with the essential requirements for the provision of postal services referred to in Article 40.2, in particular compliance with the provisions of the employment and security systems; (a) social security, or where the provision of the universal postal service is substantially impaired by unlawful interference in the universal postal service, either indirectly or in any other way affecting the provision of such a universal postal service.

(f) Failure to comply with any of the obligations laid down in Article 43 (2), or the obligations of quality, extension or material which the operator would have voluntarily assumed to obtain the authorization, where the provision of the universal postal service is serious or repeated and substantially affects the provision of the universal postal service.

g) The repeated failure to comply with the instructions or circulars issued by the National Postal Sector Commission.

h) The miskeeping of separate accounts in such a way that it is not possible to recognize the revenue differentially or the falsehood of the seats, the omission of operations performed or the accounting in incorrect accounts.

(i) The serious or repeated infringement of the other rights of users other than those referred to in (a) above.

j) The repeated violation of the guarantees granted to the operator entrusted with the provision of the universal postal service.

k) The refusal, or serious or repeated obstruction, to the inspector's performance.

(l) The repeated contribution to the National Postal Sector Commission of any false, distorted or incomplete documents, data, reports or antecedents or which contain false, distorted or incomplete data.

m) The commission, within one year, of two or more serious infractions.

Article 60. Serious infringements.

These are serious violations:

(a) The typified in points (b) to (l) of the previous article, where the circumstances allowing the offence to be classified as very serious are not given.

(b) The repeated failure to comply with the obligations to supply information to the National Regulatory Authority, whether required by rules of a general nature or by an individual requirement.

c) Failure to comply with the instructions or circulars of the National Postal Sector Commission.

d) Lack of collaboration with the National Regulatory Authority.

e) The commission, within one year, of two or more minor infractions.

Article 61. Minor infractions.

Are considered minor violations:

(a) Lack of communication or refusal to provide, within the period granted for the purpose, the documents, data, reports or records required by the National Regulatory Authority, as long as it has no character severe.

(b) The provision of postal services not included in the scope of the universal postal service, without having presented the required responsible statement.

(c) Any other non-compliance with this law and other postal regulations, unless it is deemed to be a very serious or serious infringement.

Article 62. Penalties.

1. Minor infractions will be punished with a fine of 200 to 8,000 euros, the serious ones with a fine of 8,001 to 80,000 euros and the very serious ones with fine of 80,001 to 400,000 euros.

2. Very serious infringements, in the light of the circumstances in their committee, may lead to the revocation of the singular administrative authorisation for the provision of the service by the infringer. The sealing, seizure of equipment or vehicles or the closure of the facilities may also be carried out until the appropriate administrative authorisation is available.

3. The final penalty for the offence referred to in Article 59 (e) shall be subject to the disqualification of the offender for the purpose of the exercise of the postal activity for a period of one year.

4. The amounts indicated in this article may be updated by the State's general budget law.

5. The amount of the firm penalty imposed on the postal operator, in accordance with personal data protection legislation for facts which are themselves constituting a postal infringement, will be deducted from the sanction of this nature which corresponds, with the limit of 50 percent of it.

Article 63. Criteria for the graduation of penalties.

For the determination of the corresponding penalties, within the limits indicated in the previous article, the following circumstances shall be taken into account:

a) The importance of the damage caused and its social or economic impact.

b) The amount of the benefit illicitly obtained.

c) The degree of involvement of the offender in the offence committed.

d) The intentionality in the commission of the infractions.

e) The reiteration in the commission of violations in a period of more than one year and less than five years.

Article 64. Reduction of penalties.

1. The amount of financial penalties imposed shall be reduced by 25% when the infringer is in conformity with the motion for a resolution.

2. The amount of the reduction in practice shall be required without further requirement than the notification to the person concerned when the appeal or complaint has been lodged.

Article 65. Charging of penalties.

For the collection of the penalties provided for in this law, the National Commission of the Postal Sector shall enjoy the prerogatives established in the first paragraph of Article 10 of Law 47/2003, of 26 November, General Budget.

Article 66. Periodic penalty payments.

The National Commission of the Postal Sector, regardless of the penalty fines, may impose periodic penalty payments in accordance with Law 30/1992, of 26 November, of Regime Legal of Public Administrations and of the Common Administrative Procedure.

The periodic penalty payment will be imposed on a minimum monthly basis and will not exceed 25 percent of the maximum penalty set for the offence committed.

Article 67. Precautionary measures.

1. At the request of the parties, the measures strictly necessary to ensure the effectiveness of the decision which may be placed on the parties may be taken, at the request of the parties, to prevent the effects of the infringement from being maintained. and safeguard the general interests.

2. Measures of a provisional nature may include, inter alia, the detention of postal items, the closure of installations where the activities are carried out, or the sealing of the means used.

3. The measures must be proportionate, respect the principle of minimum intervention and last as strictly as necessary.

Article 68. Extinction of responsibility.

1. The liability arising from the postal offences shall be extinguished by the death of the offending subject and by the time of the limitation period to impose the corresponding penalties.

2. The limitation period for infringements of this law will be for the very serious three years; for the two-year-olds, and for the six-month-old ones.

The limitation period for infringements will begin to be counted from the day the infringement was committed. The prescription of the initiation of the penalty procedure, with the knowledge of the person concerned, shall be interrupted, the limitation period being resumed if the sanctioning dossier has been paralyzed for more than six months for reasons not attributable to the responsible.

In the case of continued infringement, the limitation period shall begin to run from the moment of the completion of the activity or from the last act with which the infringement is consumed.

The penalties imposed for very serious misconduct will be prescribed at three years; those imposed for serious misconduct, at two years, and those imposed for minor faults, per year. The limitation period for penalties shall begin to be counted from the day following the day on which the decision on which the penalties are imposed and shall be discontinued as provided for in the second paragraph of Article 68 of Law 58/2003 shall be suspended. of 17 December, General Tax.

Additional disposition first. Operator designated by the State to provide the universal postal service.

The "State Post and Telegraph Society, the Anonymous Company" has the status of an operator designated by the State to provide the universal postal service for a period of 15 years from the entry into force of this law, and in its virtue is subject to the public service obligations consisting in the provision of the services listed in Title III, which must comply with the principles, requirements and conditions laid down in this Law and in the the plan referred to in Article 22.

The State Post and Telegraph Company, Sociedad Anonima will have to accommodate its strategic planning and its management and operation to the provisions of the previous paragraph, for which a regulatory contract of the the provision of the universal postal service between the ministries of economy and finance and development and the abovementioned operator, which shall be held for successive five-year periods and shall determine the rights and obligations attributed to the parties.

In any event, the contract shall specify in detail the measures to ensure the permanent improvement of the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of the performance, and the consequences of its non-compliance, together with the the monitoring and monitoring mechanisms concerned, as well as the causes and the procedure for the settlement of the contract, including the conditions for the provision of the universal postal service during the transitional period until the effective start of its the capability by the operator or operators to be designated.

Without prejudice to the foregoing, the public operator shall maintain a strict structural and functional separation with respect to the national regulatory authority.

Additional provision second. Monitoring of the conditions for the provision of the universal postal service.

Periodically and at most, every five years, the Government's Delegation for Economic Affairs, prior to the report of the National Commission of the Postal Sector, will assess compliance with the conditions for the delivery of the service. universal postal service by the designated operator for its provision.

Additional provision third. Mandatory minimum services.

By order of the Minister of Public Works the minimum mandatory services will be established to ensure the provision of the universal postal service.

Additional provision fourth. Issue and distribution of seals and other signs of postage.

1. The emissions of postage stamps and other signs of postage, as well as their programming, shall be authorized by joint resolution of the Undersecretaries of the Economy and Finance and of Fomento in terms of the regulations.

2. The Ministry of Public Works, the Philatelic Commission of the State, is hereby established as an advisory body of the Ministries of Economy and Finance and Development, with functions of consultation, advice and proposal on the issue of stamps and other issues. franking signs.

The composition of this Commission will ensure the participation of the most representative philatelic associations.

The composition, competencies and operating arrangements will be established.

3. The functions of the distribution and sale of mail stamps of the "State Post and Telegraph Society, Company Anonima" shall be without prejudice to the obligation of members of the network of tobacco and stamp duty to market the postage stamps in accordance with the provisions of Law 13/1998, of 4 May, of the Ordination of the Market of Tabacos and Tax Regulations and their regulations of development.

Additional provision fifth. Postal decorations and honorary postmen.

1. The Civil Order of the Postal Merit and the Medal of the Philatelic Merit are the decorations that, in the postal field, can be granted according to the provisions of the regulations.

2. The President of the State Correos and Telegrafos, S.A., will be able to appoint honorary postmen among those persons who have stood out in support of the postal service in the aforementioned entity. The appointment as an honorary postman shall take the treatment and considerations determined by the Company.

Additional provision sixth. Seal of excellence for a sustainable postal company.

The seal of excellence of a sustainable postal company is created to distinguish postal operators who stand out for the excellence of their management in environmental, social, labour and, in general, responsibility corporate social.

Additional provision seventh. Mentions.

The mentions made in Law 23/2007, of October 8, of the creation of the National Commission of the Postal Sector, in its regulations of development and in other norms, to the Law 24/1998, of July 13, of the Postal Service Universal and Liberalisation of the Postal Services shall be construed as references to this law.

Additional disposition octave. Additional and complementary measures to those defined in the additional 41st and 40th 2nd of Law 26/2009, of 23 December, of General State Budgets for the year 2010.

1. Compensation account in the concessionary companies of toll motorways dependent on the General Administration of the State.

1. A) Object.

As of January 1, 2011, certain concessionary companies of toll highways dependent on the General Administration of the State are authorized to establish a compensation account.

The opening of such an account will require prior application to the Government Delegation in the National Highway Dealership Companies.

The authorization and its operation will not affect any other condition of the concession.

1. B) Scope of application.

The companies that will be eligible for this provision are the holders of the administrative concessions on the following motorways:

Stretches: M-40-Arganda del Rey, toll highway R-3, Madrid to Arganda del Rey; M-40 -Carnero, toll highway R-5, Madrid to carnero, and M-50 between motorway A-6 and highway M-409. Awarded by Royal Decree 1515/1999 of 24 September.

Toll Highway R-2, from Madrid to Guadalajara, and from the bypass to Madrid M-50, sub-section from the N-II road to the N-I highway. Awarded by Royal Decree 1834/2000 of 3 November.

Toll Highway R-4, from Madrid to Ocaña, section M-50 -Ocana; the Madrid M-50 bypass, sub-section from the N-IV to the N-II; road from the southeast axis, stretch M-40-M-50, and the extension of the connection from the N-II road with the distributor east, and improvement performances on M-50, stretch M-409-N-IV. Awarded by Royal Decree 3540/2000 of 29 December.

Airport toll motorway, from the M-110 to the A-10; from the airport toll motorway, from the A-10 to the M-40; and construction of the extension and improvements of the access to Barajas; from the extension to three lanes of the A-10 motorway, between the connection with the airport shaft and the Hortaleza knot, and the N-II airport/variant connection and south Barajas service routes. Awarded by Royal Decree 1197/2002 of 8 November.

Cartagena-Vera toll highway. Awarded by Royal Decree 245/2004 of 6 February.

Madrid-Toledo toll motorway and toll-free motorway A-40 de Castilla-La Mancha, section: Circunvalation north of Toledo. Awarded by Royal Decree 281/2004 of 13 February.

Alicante bypass motorway, the toll free variant of El Campello and other performances. Awarded by Royal Decree 282/2004 of 13 February.

Ocana-La Roda toll highway and toll free highway A-12, stretch: N-301-Atalaya de Canavate.

Málaga toll motorway, section: Alto de las Pedrizas-Málaga

1. C) Account operation.

C. 1) Consignation and credit for the concessionary company.

For a period of three years, the concessionary company shall enter annually, in the compensation account, the difference between the toll receipts that would have occurred if 80 per 100 of the traffic was reached provided for in the financial economic plan presented in the tender offer by that company and the toll revenue from actual traffic.

The amount to be entered annually in the account may not exceed 49 per 100 of the amount resulting from adding to the annual toll of the concession the amount to be entered.

This amount will be subject to the limit of the budgetary availabilities fixed each year in the General Budget Law of the State for this concept, which in the financial year 2011 will not exceed the total amount of 80.1 million of euro.

For these purposes, the actual toll revenue for each year will be those listed in the last audited accounts.

In the month of January of each year, the concessionaire company will present to the Delegation of the Government in the Concessional Societies of National Highway Highways the amount entered in the compensation account for approval and subsequent credit to the concessionaire company by the Administration in that year.

C. 2) Consignation and credit to the Treasury.

The amounts entered in the compensation account in accordance with the above paragraph shall be paid to the granting authority during the period of validity of the concession, or until the grant is cancelled. account, according to the following procedure:

When the last audited accounts yield a real toll higher than those provided for in the financial economic plan of the tender offer, the concession company shall, in January of the following financial year, enter in the account and with a negative sign, 50 per 100 of the difference between the actual toll receipts and those provided for in that financial economic plan.

The Ministry of Public Works may authorize, at the request of the concessionaire and prior report of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the consignation of other additional amounts that allow the total or partial return, in a way the quantities entered in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

In the month of January, the concessionaire company will present to the Government Delegation in the National Highway Concession Companies the amount entered in the compensation account for approval and Subsequent payment to the Treasury in the same financial year.

Both the payments of the Administration and those that, if any, make the concession to it, will be collected in the accounting of the concessionary society, respectively, as income and operating expenses of their corresponding exercises.

C. 3) Cancellation of the compensation account.

At the end of the three-year period of the compensation account, the Government Delegation to the National Highway Highway Concessionaires will determine, annually, the balance of that account. This balance shall be the difference between the amounts paid during that period by the Administration and by the concessionary company.

The balance of the compensation account will accrue, from that time and until the account is cancelled, the largest of the following amounts:

a) The amount resulting from applying, on the balance of the compensation account at December 31, a fixed interest rate of 175 basis points.

(b) The amount resulting from applying the balance of the compensation account to 31 December in respect of the value of the total investment, to the difference obtained from bringing the net income of 75 per 100 toll, the annual rate of linear amortisation of the total investment, in accordance with the following expression:

R = C × (0.75 INP-A)

Being:

C = S/IT

A = IT/N

R = Remuneration.

S = Balance of the compensation account.

IT = Total Highway Investment.

INP = Toll revenue that is included in the accounts of the concessionary company.

N = Number of years of grant, initial, or extended in your case.

Accrued amounts will be capitalized along with the principal of the balance of the compensation account, being considered as such for all purposes.

The compensation account will be canceled in the exercise in which its balance is null.

1. D) Development measures.

The Delegation of the Government in the Concessional Societies of National Highways of Peaje is empowered to issue the instructions and to adopt the necessary measures for the development of the established in this provision additional.

2. Complementary measures for the financial economic rebalancing of toll motorway concessions.

The deadline provided for in the additional 41st paragraph of the first paragraph of Law 26/2009 of 23 December 2011 on the general budget of the State for the year 2010 for the year 2010 is extended until 30 June 2011. conventional termination of the proceedings arising from claims for additional works already executed at the time of its entry into force by the toll motorway concessionaires of the General Administration of the State.

3. Complementary measures for the financial economic rebalancing of public works concessions for the conservation and exploitation of first-generation autobuses.

With respect to the contracts included in the First Generation Self-Pathways Equation Program, referred to in the additional 42nd provision of Law 26/2009, of December 23, of Budgets The following measures are laid down for the year 2010:

3. A) Alternatives, improvements and additional works.

It is stated that, with effect from 1 January 2010, the amendments made by the alternatives or improvements in relation to the works of first establishment with functionality similar to those of the the preliminary draft adjustment, reform and conservation, as well as the additional works, carried out for reasons of public interest, not covered by such projects, which, in application of the provisions of the said Additional Disposition 42 have been authorised by the contracting authority for the entry into force of this law.

3. B) Procedure for the approval of the financial economic rebalancing and the granting of the participative loan.

The approval by the contracting authority of the economic rebalancing of the contract shall exclusively require the prior hearing of the dealer and the reports of the State Advocate and the Delegated Intervention.

The granting of the equity loan will be in accordance with the same procedure, albeit in accordance with the provisions of Article 17 of Royal Decree-Law 8/2010 of 20 May adopting extraordinary measures for the reduction of of the public deficit, the file will require the mandatory and binding report of the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

This procedure shall apply exclusively in the financial year 2011 and for the financial economic rebalancing and the granting of the participative loan arising from the works referred to in paragraph Three (A)

4. Special credit at the Ministry of Public Works.

One. Special credit is granted in the current budget of Section 17, Ministry of Development, service 20, programme 451N, concept 836, " A companies concessionary of toll motorways for payment of the regulated compensation account in the Eighth additional provision ", amounting to EUR 80.1 million.

Two. The extraordinary credit to be granted will be financed by public debt.

5. This additional disposition comes into effect.

The provisions of this additional provision shall enter into force on 1 January 2011.

Additional provision ninth. Modification of the deadline granted in the final Disposition seventh of Law 33/2010, of 5 August, of amendment of Law 48/2003, of 26 November, of economic regime and of provision of services in ports of general interest.

The deadline conferred in the final Disposition seventh of Law 33/2010, of 5 August, of amendment of Law 48/2003, of 26 November, of economic regime and of provision of services in ports of general interest, extends until 31 December 2011, with the legislative delegation remaining on the same terms as the final Disposition.

Additional provision 10th. Authorization for the completion of fillers in the port public domain of the Port of Bilbao referred to in the projects for the Urban Development of Zorrotzaurre.

Exceptionally the completion of fillers in the port public domain of the Port of Bilbao, contemplated in the projects for the Urbanistic Development of Zorrotzaurre, may be authorized, which aim to restore, total or partially, the physical situation existing previously to the port activity, in order to restore to the municipality some soils in the due environmental conditions in the areas that will cease to be harbour.

Single transient arrangement. Conditions of benefit.

The conditions for the provision of the universal postal service and its financing arrangements shall be governed by the rules prior to the entry into force of this Law until the Government approves the Service's Delivery Plan. Universal Postal and its regulatory contract.

The National Commission of the Postal Sector will establish a timetable for the renewals of the companies that are registered in the General Register of Postal Services of Postal Services at the entry into force of the This law shall inform each company of the procedure and the requirements necessary for the updating of the registration, as well as the time limit for making it.

In any case, the entire registration renewals in the above mentioned Register must be completed by January 1, 2012.

Single repeal provision. Regulatory repeal.

The Law 24/1998 of July 13 of the Universal Postal Service and of the Liberalization of Postal Services is repealed, and all other provisions of equal or lower rank are opposed, contradicted or incompatible with the law. the provisions of this law.

Final disposition first. Amendment of Law 23/2007, of 8 October, of the creation of the National Commission of the Postal Sector.

1. Article 7 of Law 23/2007 of 8 October of the creation of the National Commission of the Postal Sector is amended, which will be worded as follows:

" 1. In order to meet the objectives set out in the previous article, the National Commission of the Postal Sector shall exercise the powers conferred on it in the postal and regulatory bodies.

You will also be responsible for managing and controlling the use of the promotional census as defined in Article 31 of the Organic Law on Data Protection, as well as your application, as determined regulentarily.

The decisions that the Council will make in the exercise of its public functions shall end the administrative path and shall be subject to the administrative-administrative jurisdiction.

2. The National Commission of the Postal Sector shall, annually, produce a report on the development of the postal market, which will be presented to the Ministry of Public Works and elevated to the General Courts.

This report will be elevated to the Government, through the Minister of Public Works in the terms that are regulated.

3. The National Postal Sector Commission will present annually a report on the quality, cost and financing of the universal postal service and on the evolution of access to the postal network. This report will be transferred to the Ministry of Public Works, which will raise it to the Delegation for Economic Affairs.

4. The National Commission of the Postal Sector must present, in the terms of the regulations, the Memories, Action Plans and Economic Reports which, in general, are required for the Regulatory Bodies. "

2. Article 11 (2) of Law 23/2007, of 8 October, of the creation of the National Commission of the Postal Sector, which will have the following wording, is amended:

" 2. The Commission's resources shall be integrated by:

(a) The assets and securities that constitute their assets, as well as the products and income of the equity.

(b) The income from the liquidation of the fees for the purpose of financing the operation of the Commission.

(c) The amount of penalties and periodic penalty payments provided for in this law.

(d) Transfers to be carried out, where appropriate, from the General Budget of the State.

e) The donations and legacies you receive. "

3. Article 13 is amended in paragraphs 1 and 5 of Law 23/2007 of 8 October of the creation of the National Commission of the Postal Sector, which will be worded as follows:

" 1. Persons and entities registered in the General Register of Postal Service Companies shall be required to satisfy an annual frequency rate, which is intended to finance the costs arising from the operation of the National Postal Sector Commission. "

" 5. The fee to be entered will be 400 euros, without prejudice to the updates that the law of general budgets of the State can carry out in the successive exercises. "

4. Article 16 is amended in paragraphs 1, 2 and 4 of Law 23/2007 of 8 October of the creation of the National Commission of the Postal Sector, which will be worded as follows:

" 1. The National Postal Service Commission shall resolve any disputes arising between the universal postal service provider and other postal operators carrying out services falling within that scope in relation to the right of the postal sector. access to the postal network as well as to other elements of the postal infrastructure and services offered by the aforementioned operator in the field of the universal postal service.

2. The dispute settlement procedure shall respect the principles of hearing, contradiction and equality. "

" 4. Following the submission of the application by the person concerned or by his representative, the Commission shall forward a copy of the complaint to the party against which it is made, in order to reply within 20 days, proposing, where appropriate, the evidence that you consider appropriate. "

5. Article 17 (2) of Law 23/2007 of 8 October of the creation of the National Commission of the Postal Sector is amended, which is read as follows:

" 2. The instructions shall be approved by the Council, shall be duly substantiated and shall be given prior to the organisations and associations recognised by the Law which bring together or represent the rightholders or legitimate interests which they maintain. direct relationship to the object of the instruction. "

6. Article 19 (2) of Law 23/2007, of 8 October, of the creation of the National Commission of the Postal Sector, which is worded as follows:

" Competition for the instruction of the sanctioning procedure shall be the responsibility of the officials of the inspection service of the Commission and the decision of the President of the Council, in the case of infringements (i) and the Council in the case of serious or very serious infringements. "

Final disposition second. Commissioning of the promotional census.

The National Commission of the Postal Sector, in collaboration with the competent bodies, within one year of the entry into force of this law, shall take the necessary measures to ensure the effective functioning of the promotional census as referred to in Article 31 of the Organic Law on Data Protection.

Final disposition third. Additional or complementary services to postal services.

Without prejudice to the government's ability to fix additional services, postal services are considered to be complementary to postal services, whereby payments are made to natural or legal persons. on behalf of others, through the postal network, as defined in this law.

This service has the consideration of a financial service of general economic interest to be provided, directly or through third parties, by the operator designated by the State to provide the universal postal service, compliance with all that is applicable, with Law 16/2009, of 13 November, of payment services and their implementing rules.

The extension, with special attention to the rural areas, the mode of delivery and the system of financing of this service will be determined in the corresponding contract that is signed with the aforementioned operator to these effects, in accordance with the requirements to be determined.

Final disposition fourth. Competence title.

This law is issued under the exclusive competence of the State in the field of postal services provided for in Article 149.1.21. of the Constitution.

Article 30 of the present law, which is also made available under Article 149.1.14. of the Constitution, which grants the State exclusive competence over the general budget, is exempted from the provisions of the previous paragraph. of the State.

Final disposition fifth. Incorporation of Community law.

This law incorporates into Spanish law Directive 2008 /6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 February 2008 amending Directive 97 /67/EC on the completion of the market internal Community postal services.

Final disposition sixth. Regulatory enablement.

The Government may dictate how many regulatory standards are necessary for its development.

Final disposition seventh. Entry into force.

Without prejudice to the provisions of the eighth additional provision, this law shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the "Official Gazette of the State".

Therefore,

I command all Spaniards, individuals and authorities, to keep and keep this law.

Madrid, 30 December 2010.

JOHN CARLOS R.

The President of the Government,

JOSE LUIS RODRIGUEZ ZAPATERO