On the grounds of complaints the Bundeskartellamt has forbidden Deutsche Post AG from hindering or discriminating against rival small and medium-sized providers of postal services in their “mail preparation services.” According to Bundeskartellamt President Böge the immediate enforceability of this decision was ordered to prevent any further delay to the already weak competition in the market for letter mail.

The mail preparation services concerned include in particular the collection and pre-sorting of letters and the feeding of mail items weighing under 100 grammes into Deutsche Post AG’s sorting centres.

Currently Deutsche Post AG awards discounts of 3 to 21 per cent for these services only to its own major customers and also PostCon Deutschland as a registered cooperative. “However, with this practice of awarding discounts Deutsche Post AG is hindering the market entry of competitors (so-called “consolidators”) in the collection, pre-sorting and feeding- in of letters,” Böge stated. Small and medium-sized companies generally do not reach the minimum volumes of letters required by Deutsche Post AG to qualify for such discounts. They can only reduce their postage costs through the activities of the consolidators.

In its examination of the case the Bundeskartellamt came to the conclusion that this practice of the Deutsche Post AG violates German and European competition law. As a dominant company it may not treat providers of mail services feeding in letters from only one large customer and so-called consolidators feeding in letters from various customers differently without justification. It may also not discriminate between consolidators, i.e. grant benefits to a cooperative which it refuses another consolidator. Furthermore Deutsche Post AG may not hinder consolidators by refusing them access to the partial services of letter conveyance and delivery (without collection, presorting and feeding-in) without any objective justification. The sender’s address on the letters is of no significance whatsoever as regards the provision of conveyance and delivery services.

Deutsche Post AG cannot invoke its limited exclusive licence under the Postal Act to justify its behaviour. According to a decision issued by the European Commission in proceedings against the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Postal Act violates European provisions to open up the postal sector insofar as it reserves mail preparation services for letters under 100 grammes exclusively for Deutsche Post AG. The obstruction or unequal treatment of other companies cannot be justified by invoking a national provision which is in violation of European law. In the run-up to this decision the Bundeskartellamt and the Directorate General for competition agreed that these violations of Deutsche Post AG against German and European competition law will be acted upon by the Bundeskartellamt.

According to the Bundeskartellamt’s decision Deutsche Post AG has in future to grant discount for the feeding-in of pre-sorted bulk mailings into its mail sorting centres even where competitors collect and sort letters from different senders to ultimately hand these over to Deutsche Post AG bundled (“consolidated”).

Deutsche Post AG can file an appeal against the Bundeskartellamt’s decision at the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court and apply for the suspension of its immediate enforceability.