Censu Galea

POSTAL OPERATORS MUST CONFORM TO THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE STANDARDS OF EFFICIENCY AND QUALITY

Competitiveness and Communications Minister Censu Galea briefs Universal Postal Union Congress in Bucharest on Malta’s Postal Sector liberalisation

“Although electronic means of communications have made inroads in the traditional hard copy mail, the traditional letter is far from obsolete. A self-sustaining postal sector that operates to the highest standards, admittedly poses a significant challenge, not only to those running the respective services, but also to the policy makers, regulatory bodies, consumer groups and all those who have an interest in its continued well-being.” This was said by Competitiveness and Communications Minister Censu Galea when addressing the 23rd Universal Postal Union (UPU) Congress in Bucharest this week. The Minister also signed the agreements of the of the Universal Postal Union.

Minister Censu Galea said that the past two decades have been characterised by a significant transformation in institutional set-ups removing state monopolies and promoting commercialisation and competition. This inexorable movement has resulted in the gradual liberalisation of the sectors that were characterised by these monopolistic scenarios.

“Malta’s progress towards liberalisation has been more recent and the tempo has accelerated in line with EU accession. These services play an essential role in the development of the respective national milieus in which they operate and the new paradigm aims at introducing a competitive environment in order to ensure that these organisations do not become inadvertently complacent in their behaviour. Ultimately the overall fallout on the economy and the individual consumer will be a beneficial one – efficient delivery at competitive prices” Minister Galea added.

“Government has embarked upon the devolution of the three-fold role of government as operator, policy maker and regulator. The three roles are now distinct and reside within different organisational and institutional players.”

In the case of postal services, the Ministry for Competitiveness and Communications has retained the role of policy maker for the sector. Maltapost is the incumbent operator and no longer retains a total monopoly on the market. The Malta Communications Authority, designated as the National Regulatory Authority for the postal sector on the 1st June 2003, when the European Union (EU) Postal Service Directive was transposed into national law by the Postal Services Act, is the arbiter that ensures that competition in the postal sector comes about in a way that is fair and just and that the public gets the best deal out of the equation.

In advance of the setting up of the regulatory framework, the Malta Communications Authority attained, in February 2004, EU pre-accession assistance in the form of consultancy services from a counterpart agency under a twinning ‘light’ partnership. The relationship has been beneficial in securing the transfer of a substantial amount of valuable sectoral knowledge in a short span of time.
“In the coming months, the Malta Communications Authority will be closely collaborating with Maltapost to establish a mechanism on how prices are to be controlled over time. By the end of this year therefore we should have the key elements of the regulatory framework in place enabling a better and more efficient quality of service. Ultimately, however, it takes the players on the field to bring to fruition real and lasting results,” underlined the Minister.

In his concluding remarks, the Competitiveness and Communications Minister said that the domestic situation is an ideal one in that Maltapost has, on its own accord, been proactive in aiming at bettering its performance from an efficiency and quality of service standpoint. Government has also played a vital part, not only in the setting-up of the Malta Communications Authority, but in partially privatising Maltapost and redeploying a significant number of staff within other government entities, which measure has been instrumental in maintaining sound industrial relations in a period of stressful change.

“We strongly support widespread implementation of the liberalisation model that we have adopted. Efficiency gains in individual states equate to a truly efficient and cost-effective global service for the benefit of all,” Minister Galea concluded.