Postal Act
Postal laws regulate the conditions under which postal companies may be operated in a country.
Germany
| Basic data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Postal Act |
| Abbreviation: | PostG |
| Type: | Federal law |
| Scope: | Federal Republic of Germany |
| Legal matter: | Special administrative law |
| References : | 900-14 |
| Issued on: | December 22, 1997 ( BGBl. I p. 3294 ) |
| Entry into force on: | January 1, 1998 |
| Last change by: |
Art. 318 Regulation of June 19, 2020 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 1328, 1365 ) |
| Effective date of the last change: |
June 27, 2020 (Art. 361 of June 19, 2020) |
| Weblink: | Text of the law |
| Please note the note on the applicable legal version. | |
The Postal Act (PostG) regulates the legal framework for the provision of postal services. It is the successor to the regulations that regulated the provision of postal services by the Deutsche Bundespost (above all the postal regulations ) and pursues the concept of giving businesses and consumers access to modern, inexpensive and customer-oriented postal services . The provision of § 1 PostG assigns normative validity to this guiding principle of the legislature . Regulation in the postal sector is intended to promote competition and ensure adequate and adequate services across the board.
However, when the law came into force on January 1, 1998, it did not completely abolish existing monopoly rights . Rather, within the scope of the possibilities opened up by the provisions of Community law and constitutional law, only individual sub-areas were initially opened to competition. The main market of mail delivery was protected from competition by an exclusive limited license in favor of Deutsche Post AG . This license was canceled without replacement on December 31, 2007.
Austria
The Federal Act on the Regulation of the Postal Market (Post Market Act, PMG) of December 4, 2009 ( Federal Law Gazette I No. 123/2009 ) pursues similar goals. According to the Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology , it should ensure that the population and the economy are offered diverse, inexpensive and high-quality postal services. It is intended, in particular, to guarantee sufficient and inexpensive basic postal services (universal service) for the population throughout Germany and enable fair competition in the provision of postal services.
