Services provided by An Post

Classification of services provided by An Post

Universal Services - the range of both national and trans-border services that An Post is required by law to provide including;

services involving the clearance, sorting, transport and distribution of postal items weighing up to 2kgs;
services involving the clearance, sorting, transport and distribution of postal packages weighing up to 20kgs;
services for registered items and services for insured items.

The specific services that An Post is required to provide are detailed in ComReg 05/85 'The Universal Postal Service - Formulating a working definition' issued in November 2005.

In addition to the standard letter service, the key elements in the working definition include:

bulk mail services offering 'delivery only', 'deferred delivery' and a combination of both options
a compensation limit of €4,600 payable for items (letter services and parcels) lost or delayed in the insured service
a single standard parcel offering to all destinations with target delivery times, prices that comply with the tariff principles and a registered and insured service
a number of ancillary and other services

Redirection
Mailminder
Private boxes / bags
Certificate of posting (free)

Sending books abroad
Business Reply / Free post
Free postage for blind & partially sighted persons

Other Postal Services - Services that An Post is not required to provide but chooses to do so because it sees customer demand for such services, or to compete with other postal service providers who are offering similar services.

Non Postal Services - These cover a wide range of services such as the Network of Retail Post Offices providing a wide range of Financial Services, Collection of TV Licence Fees, Printing, Computer software, Digital certification and securit, Electronic top up, Business Directories and Property Development. About 25% of An Post's turnover comes from such services.

Consumer rights in relation to services provided by An Post

Universal Services - An Post's obligations in respect of price, quality and choice are set out in law and it is ComReg's function to ensure that An Post complies with these obligations.
The provision of such services for items of correspondence weighing 50g or less is reserved to An Post, unless the price charged is 2½ times the basic price for a letter (currently 2½ X 55c = €1.375). This means that An Post has a monopoly in the provision of such services but in consequence must obtain ComReg's approval before increasing prices.

The reserved area was reduced to 50g on 1 January 2006 and political agreement was reached 1 October 2007 to set a deadline for Full Market Opening of 31 December 2010. The market for outgoing cross-border mail has been fully opened since 1 January 2004.

The image above illustrates the interrelationship between Universal, Reserved and Unregulated Postal Services based on domestic price 55c

Other postal services - ComReg's functions are much more limited. There are requirements to ensure that there are adequate complaints procedures and that there is no cross-subsidy in the provision of these services. An Post is not immune from direct legal liability in respect of any loss or damage suffered by a person in the use of such postal services, and it is possible to sue An Post in the Small Claims Court if complaints are not adequately resolved.

Non Postal Services - ComReg has no direct control over the provision of these services, which are subject to normal commercial law.