Parcel Association BIEK Files Urgent Procedure Against Approval of Postal Rates

The Parcel Association BIEK has initiated an urgent procedure against the Federal Network Agency at the Administrative Court of Cologne, as the Federal Network Agency has so far not implemented the decision of the Federal Administrative Court regarding the excessive postal rates of Deutsche Post AG (DP AG).

(Berlin) The Federal Administrative Court had revoked the approval of the postal rates of DP AG by the Federal Network Agency for the period from 2016 to 2018 in May 2020 at the request of BIEK. The court particularly deemed the method for determining the DP AG profit as inadmissible: The profit margins of European comparison companies should not be used as a basis. According to the Postal Act, only the profit that reflects the specific entrepreneurial risk of DP AG in Germany is relevant, the court ruled.

Since the current postal rate approval for the subsequent period from 2019 to 2021 is also based on the comparison method deemed inadmissible by the Federal Administrative Court and additionally builds on the unlawful postal rates of 2018, BIEK applied to the Federal Network Agency in August 2020 for the revocation of this postal rate approval. As the authority has not yet responded substantively to this, BIEK has now requested the Administrative Court of Cologne to suspend the execution of the approval in an urgent decision.

Inaction is Unacceptable

Marten Bosselmann, Chairman of BIEK: “It is unacceptable that the Federal Network Agency remains inactive while millions of consumers and businesses are paying unlawfully excessive postal rates.” Furthermore, the BNetzA allows DPAG to finance package costs through postal rates – this was also criticized by the BVerwG, Bosselmann added. “The current case once again shows that we urgently need a modern Postal Act that abolishes unjustified privileges of Deutsche Post and ensures fair competition in the postal markets.”

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