ACM imposes fine of almost 7 million euros on postal operator PostNL for failing to meet on-time delivery requirement in 2023
Summary
- In 2023, Dutch postal operators PostNL failed to meet the quality requirement for on-time delivery of 95 percent.
- In that year, only 89.48 percent of the mail was delivered on time.\That is why ACM has decided to impose a fine on PostNL.
The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) has imposed a fine of 6,923,000 euros on Dutch postal operator PostNL for failing to meet the quality requirement for on-time delivery in 2023. In that year, PostNL delivered 89.48 percent of letterbox-sized mail with a five-day delivery requirement on time, which is below the statutory requirement of at least 95 percent.
Manon Leijten, Member of the Board of ACM, explains: “As the statutory provider of the universal service obligation (USO), it is PostNL’s duty and responsibility to make sure that mail is delivered on time. People and businesses that send something by mail need to be able to count on the fact that they get what they paid for.”
PostNL claims force majeure, and points to several causes, including a tight labor market. ACM has come to the conclusion that force majeure cannot be claimed here, since PostNL in 2023 could have anticipated the tightness of the labor market. It is up to the company itself to make a sufficiently attractive offer for recruiting and retaining staff. Although PostNL did take measures to recruit and retain new staff, those efforts were not enough to meet the statutory delivery requirement. PostNL must bear the consequences of the business decisions it made in that context.
About the universal service obligation
Postal operator PostNL has been charged by the Dutch legislature with the so-called universal service obligation (USO). Mail items that are protected under the USO are individual mail items, also referred to as single-piece mail. These are mostly letters, cards, and parcels that consumers and small businesses (without a business contract with PostNL) send, for example using PostNL’s mail collection boxes. Mail sent by larger businesses and organizations, such as government agencies, banks and insurers, do not fall under the USO.
The Dutch legislature has set strict rules for on-time delivery. ACM enforces compliance with them. The percentage of on-time delivered letters (which is calculated as a yearly average) has been in a downward trend since 2014.
For more information, read the fining decision.