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IN FRANCE | |||
© Secretary of State for industry - France  Community
negotiations on the postal sector: who represents France? France is represented by the minister responsible for the postal sector at the European Union Council of Posts and Telecommunications Ministers which convenes at least once during each Presidency. France is represented by the competent technical departments of the Ministry of Postal Affairs, the Directorate General of Posts and Telecommunications, to the specialised Community authorities (Working Party on Economic Questions within the Council, High Level Meeting and the Senior Officials Group-Posts, SOG-P, for the Commission). These Community authorities that are made up, therefore, of national experts who represent member states, are responsible for discussing and preparing the proposals of the European Commission before they are presented to the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the member states (COREPER) with a view to their final adoption, at a political level, by the European ministers. When contention arises between France and the European institutions, depending on the nature of the case, the DGPT represents France before the Commission and before the Court of Justice of the European Communities. For more information on Community institutions, consult the information service set up by the European Commission on the Internet : EUROPA
September 1989, Antibes : consensus on the major principles which should regulate postal services in Europe during an informal meeting, under French presidency, of the Ministers of Posts and Telecommunications of the twelve countries which make up the European Community. Decision taken to set up a group of senior postal civil servants (Senior Officials Group Posts - SOG-P) to prepare the terrain; to act in an advisory capacity to the European Commission of the European Communities. October 1989 : first meeting of the SOG-P. Four working groups set up around four themes: regulation, harmonisation, quality of service, terminal dues and tariffs. France was represented by senior officials from La Poste and from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. December 1990 : Preliminary draft of a Green Paper presented to the member states by the Commission. France makes it position known : very favourable to the universal service and its corollary, the sector reserved to operators providing the service, France expresses regret at the insufficient measures for Community harmonisation. Based on comments from the twelve member states, the Commission reworks the draft to include more harmonisation and also to reduce the scope of the reserved sector. 13 May 1992 : Green Paper on the development of the single market for postal services adopted by the Commission. This document contains the Commission's views and proposals. Second half 1992 : Green Paper is submitted to national consultation in the majority of the twelve member states. In France, widespread consultations organised by the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications with all interested parties - Members of Parliament, other elected representatives, trade unions, companies, private operators, consumer organisations, and the historical operator, La Poste...A summary is sent to the Commission in December 1992. June 1992 : publication of the Green Paper. 5 June 1992 : Council of the twelve Posts and Telecommunications Ministers. The Green Paper is examined. End of 1992 : Council of the twelve Ministers of Posts and Telecommunications. Each Minister presents a summary of the debate and contributions of their respective countries. 22 January 1993 : the European Parliament adopts the resolution in which it confirms the necessity for a universal postal service and expresses the wish to be closely associated in the adoption of the future European regulatory framework. June 1993 : based on the results of public consultations organised in the member states, the Commission publishes a new document entitled "Guidelines for the development of the single Market for postal services". This was debated during meetings which brought together national regulatory authorities on the one hand and representatives of the European postal services on the other. 7 December 1993 : Council of Posts and Telecommunications Ministers of the twelve member states adopt a resolution. It will be officially adopted on 7 February 1994 (lien hypertexte => texte de la résolution). This resolution defines the political objectives of Community action on postal matters, and mandates the Commission to present, before 1 July 1994, propositions for laws required to meet the objectives. 1994 : the Commission submits to the SOG-P a working document called "Regulatory framework for Postal Services in the European Union" but does not communicate the measures for which it was mandated by the Ministers. second half 1995 : During its presidency of the European Union France revives the Community postal issue. 26 July 1995, the Commission adopts two proposals. The first is a "Proposal for a European Parliament and Council directive on common rules for the development of Community postal services and the improvement of quality of service"; it comes under the application of Article 100a of the Treaty of Rome and, therefore, must be adopted by the European Parliament and the European Council (procedure of joint decision); the other proposal is a "Draft notice on the application of the competition rules to the postal sector" which will be the object of a public consultation for two months following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities (OJEC). To date, neither of these proposals has been officially made public. 27 November 1995 : Council of Ministers of the European Union (lien hypertexte vers Actualité 1.1) The universal service: this is the definition of the conditions and criteria according to which certain postal services, reserved or open to competition, will have to be provided obligatorily (daily home delivery, tariff rebalancing, affordable tariff...) by one operator or another. Services which can be reserved: the list will be drawn up at Community level. They may be "reserved" for monopoly by an operator responsible for the universal service so as to ensure the economic and financial viability of the set of services which make up the universal service. Reserved services: they will be chosen at national level among services which can be reserved and allocated to an operator responsible for the universal service who will thus enjoy a monopoly designed to finance the provision of services which make up the universal service.
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