EU reforms in the postal sector are well on track, but some Member States need to speed up their transition towards full market opening and to remove remaining barriers to competition. These are the conclusions of the European Commission's latest periodical application report on the EU postal sector. The creation of an Internal Postal Market is included in the Lisbon Strategy as a crucial element of the EU's single market policy.

Major Milestones

The Postal Directive requires the Commission to present a periodical application report that analyses important market and regulatory developments and assesses the impact of EU Postal Reform by identifying the effects and benefits that it has generated to date. The reported period – 2006-2008 – is of particular relevance for the postal sector in the EU, as a number of decisive developments took place. The three major milestones are:

• Proposal and adoption of the 3rd Postal Directive.
• Gradual market opening and development of competition.
• Shared responsibilities.

Publication of the EU Postal Directive

The text published on the 27th February 2008 reflects the overall political agreement between the institutions and keeps the key elements of the Commission's initial proposal and in particular:

• The accomplishment of the internal market of Community postal services via the abolition of the reserved area in all Member States.
• The confirmation of the scope and standard of universal service; reinforcement of consumers' rights and upgrading of the role of national regulatory authorities.
• The offering of a list of measures Member States may take to safeguard and finance, if necessary, the universal service.