Royal Mail’s licence and postal services legislation

The licence that applies to Royal Mail can be found below. We’ve also provided links to the Postal Services Act 2000 and EU Directive 97/67/EC. These are the main pieces of legislation that govern the postal market.

RM Licence

PSA 2000 – OPSI website

EU Directive 97/67/EC

  Royal Mail Application for the Deregulation of Products Serving the Fulfilment Market

On 20 November 2008 Royal Mail submitted an application to Postcomm to remove the current price controls (in Condition 21 of our licence) for a number of packet products and product formats on the basis that competition in the provision of them is sufficiently developed to protect the interest of users. The application does not cover the universal service products used by customers when sending parcels and packets at Post Offices.

Royal Mail’s application will be of considerable interest to competitors, both licensed and unlicensed, and to customers who use packet products. Postcomm intends to publish a non-confidential version of the application as soon as possible.

The packet products for which an application has been made are as follows:

 

Postcomm first has to consider whether the information that has been provided by Royal Mail is sufficient and of good quality. They anticipate that this process (which will include requesting additional information from us if it is needed) will take until February 2009.

Once it has sufficient information of good quality Postcomm will consider whether competition is sufficiently developed to protect customers if price controls are removed. The analysis carried out will then be subject to consultation with all stakeholders in the summer of 2009.

Royal Mail has also asked Postcomm to remove the requirement for it to provide notification of changes (under Condition 7 of its licence) to those packet products from which the price control is removed. In addition, we are seeking an exemption from Condition 7 for two additional packet products: Royal Mail Tracked and Mail Order Returns which are not currently price controlled.

Further information about our application and the timescales for considering the application will be published on this website as soon as possible.  A Redacted version of Royal Mail's Application has been published on Postcomm's website.

Compliance Officer’s reports

Under Condition 13 of our licence, we’re required to appoint a Compliance Officer, and to publish a report on the Compliance Officer's activities during the most recent financial year. The report below sets out the Compliance Officer’s activities for the year 2009 / 2010.

Compliance Officer's report 2009 / 2010

One of the Compliance Officer’s tasks is to investigate representations that Royal Mail Group may be contravening Part 4 of our licence. This part is entitled "Promotion Of Effective Competition Between Postal Operators". The Compliance Officer also has to investigate representations that the compliance-procedures are not being followed or are defective. The following document describes how we would approach this sort of investigation.

Investigation procedure for alleged breaches 

 

Royal Mail application for the cessation of Sunday and Bank Holiday collections

The attached is the application that Royal Mail submitted to Postwatch in accordance with Condition 21, paragraph 3 of its licence to request the cessation of Sunday and Bank Holiday collections from 30 September 2007.

Sunday collections cessation (pdf 197kb)

PW statement of agreement Sunday Collections 20/07/07 (pdf 119kb)

 

Delivery exceptions

Royal Mail is required to publish an annual overview of the number of addresses excepted from a universal delivery service on its own website.

Year on year comparison

Exceptions by postcode area 2009

Exceptions arrangement categories 2009

  Collection Exceptions 

Royal Mail is required to publish on its own website, the list of access points subject to temporary suspension subject to Data Protection Act and Security considerations.

Short term exceptions

Long term exceptions

The above reports have been compiled by individual areas within Royal Mail Group Ltd, and provide a snapshot view for the immediate period of time leading up to each review. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information supplied in the reports, Royal Mail Group Ltd cannot accept liability for any errors or inaccuracies.

  Condition 7 Exemption Applications

Royal Mail has applied to Postcomm for certain services to be exempt from Condition 7.  These application(s) can be found below

Special Delivery on Account

Postcomm issued a Direction exempting Sameday from Condition 7 on 30th January 2007, for International Bulk Mail and Branch Direct on 19th December 2007 and for Parts Express on the 20th June 2008.


Special Delivery High Value

Postcomm’s consultation on a new Special Delivery High Value service designed specifically for cash, jewellery, and valuable items closed in December 2006.  Postwatch issued a Statement of Agreement, under Condition 21 of Royal Mail's Licence, on 25th January 2008. Postwatch agreed that compensation for Special Delivery not sold on account can be capped at £500 when the High Value product is launched.  According to Condition 21, an application was made to Postcomm. Postcomm confirmed that they are happy for this change to take effect.

Royal Mail took a commercial decision in December 2009 not to launch Special Delivery High Value.

  Overview of Trials

Royal Mail's Convenient (Nominated Evening) Delivery trial is intended to validate the anticipated customer demand for, and operational and cost feasibility of, a four hour evening delivery slot to a specific nominated address. It is open to customers who hold a Royal Mail Tracked® contract, or those who wish to apply for access to this service and who are located within reasonable travelling distance of Central London and typically dispatch over 100 items per day to the M25/London area. Customers must be capable of managing order and dispatch processes and be willing to pass consumer and sales data pertinent to the trial to Royal Mail. Further details are available on the Royal Mail Tracked® website. Please view our Convenient (Nominated Evening) Delivery Trial Notification (PDF 91KB) document.

Royal Mail's RED TAG volume trial is intended to test the operational feasibility and benefit of processing high volumes of RED TAG barcoded mail. It is open to customers who are prepared to send large daily volumes of items printed to RED TAG specifications. Further details will be available on the Royal Mail RED TAG website. Please view our RED TAG® Trial notification (PDF 136KB) document.

Trays for Mailsort trial
Royal Mail's Trays for Mailsort trial ended on 22nd January 2010. The objective of this trial was to test the modelled cost assumptions associated with accepting Mailsort mailings in trays. We are currently assessing the results of this trial which may lead to a product notification.

  Delivery and Collection Specifications

As a requirement falling within Royal Mail's Universal Service Obligation, there is the need to publish details of the standards of service offered for both the collection and the delivery of mail. Please view our Current delivery and collection  standards.pdf (36KB opens in a new window).

Condition 4 obligations

Under Condition 4 of our Licence, we are obliged to maintain an up to date written record of the Scheduled Services and their standardised measures (as defined in the Licence) along with each of the corresponding scheduled standards. View this statutory record.

Condition 7 Notifications

Under condition 7 of our licence, we are required to notify Postcomm of changes to our tariffs and general conditions for supplying postal services.

View those which relate to customer solutions. View statements related to contracts won following a competitive tendering process. Product and Service notifications since 1 March 2006 are listed below.

March 2006

Extension to 1700 Latest Acceptance Times

Special Delivery Latest Access Times

Revised mailmedia Calculator

DVD Mailer

Mails Verification On Site

Special Delivery Service Level Agreements Mar06

Credit Policy

Airsure & International Signed for

Special Delivery Saturday Guarantees

Business Mail Secure

Cleanmail Advance

April 2006

International Reply Coupons

  May 2006

PiP documentation

Mailmedia restructuring

European Printed Papers Tariffs

Big Book Weightbands

June 2006

Presstream 250K price change

Updated SD Terms and Conditions

Safeplace Trial

 

July 2006

Business Mail Secure specification change

Additional countries for Airsure

August 2006

Big Book Booking and Cancellation Periods

 

  October 2006

Removal of mailmedia unused variants

 

December 2006

Early Collect conversion to product status

Pre-Sorted Delivery conversion to product status

Early Extraction conversion to product status

Launch of Postal Voting as a product

The introduction of a Minimum Order Value (MOV)

Launch of Standard Tariff Automated Large Letters

Tariff 2007

Read the details of April 2007's tariff

Changes to the unbagged specification

Payment holidays

Launch of Cleanmail Advance

 

February 2007

Launch of Sleeved Yorks option for International Mailings

March 2007

Paperwork required with each PPI collection

 

Chorus Amendments

 

Launch of RM TrackedTM

 

Launch of Safeplace Delivery Option

 

Redirections online

 

April 2007

Packetpost Returns Price changes

Launch of Royal Mail Heavyweight

Mailsort Database 2007

Mixed Weights from multiple sites

Changes to Mech Spec

Details of Beneficial Changes to Mech Spec

 

Withdrawal of Standard Service Speed from International Bulk Mail  

 

May 2007

Further Changes to Mech Spec and 90(95)% DPS Accuracy (pdf 74kb)

Special Delivery Group Rates

Mailsort 1 120 in Trays

Mailsort 1 700 and Mailsort 2 700 - Ability to present in trays

June 2007

Additional Airsure Destinations

July 2007

International Destination Sort Tariff Change

General Terms and Conditions Changes

September 2007

Additional Airsure Countries

October 2007

Royal Mail Heavyweight weekly limits

Special Delivery 9am exceptions

November 2007

Mailsort 3 120 and Mailsort 3 700 - Ability to present in trays

Free Mail Service to Forces Personnel

December 2007

Tariff 2008

Tariff 2008 detail

Cleanmail Advance & OBA

January 2008

Extension of cost related VRDs to Cleanmail Advance (meter)

Modifications to Pre-Sorted Delivery Ts & Cs

February 2008

Special Delivery Group Rates

Accreditation Relaxation
This change was never fully implemented and accreditation checks remain in place

Minimum envelope size for the Unbagged Specification

March 2008

Enhanced Later Posting Times (LPTs)

Term Contracts & Mailsort 120

Enhanced LPTs for Packetsort Plus 2C & RM Tracked

April 2008

Acceptance of non-cylindrical 'long' packets

May 2008

Migration of customers of Response Services Barcode

June 2008

Address Block specification and Permitted Punctuation

 

July 2008

Presstream and ADS; Presstream Premium Mail Centre expansion; No compensation option for RM Tracked

Surcharge for enhanced 1st class LPTs

August 2008

Revised Term Contract Switching Plan Guidelines

September 2008

Relaxation of CBC specification for MS120, MS700 & MM Plus

RM Tracked prices and longer notice period following sampling.  Extension of ADS to MS3 1400

Local Collect fee waiver during December 2008

November 2008

FK17-21 SD by 9am exception

December 2008

Mailmedia PPI correction

  Tariff 2009 including MOV

Tariff 2009 Detail

Launch of Sustainable Mail

Royal Mail Tracked product extensions

Withdrawal of ASTLL from meters

Special Delivery Contract April 2009 pricing

Special Delivery Group Rate April 2009 pricing

 

January 2009

Sustainable Mail Specification and RM Tracked Term Contract Detail

Changes to the Sustainable Mail pricing structure

A correction to the Sustainable Mail pricing structure

March 2009

Launch of Sustainable mailmedia (currently on hold)

Sustainable mailmedia rate card

RM Tracked price review process

April 2009

Amendment to RM Heavyweight & Big Book specification

May 2009

Amended Terms & Conditions for Timed Delivery

July 2009

Mailsort 3 and Sustainable Mail 3 price change

August 2009

Presstream Premium entry level reduction

Royal Mail Tracked alignments

Please note that this notification letter is replaced by the notification letter in March 2010 which details some changes being re-notified to enable a unified June 2010 deployment.

 

September 2009

Local Collect fee waiver during December 2009

Enhancements to Royal Mail's automation specifications

October 2009

Local Collect Price changes

November 2009

Reduction in size of OCR envelopes

Royal Mail Sale on Mailsort 3

December 2009

Enhancements to RM's automation specification - Roulette Perforations

Amendment to Royal Mail Tracked Ts & Cs

Tariff 2010

Tariff 2010 Detail

Response Services Specification

Response Services User Guide

Bulk Mail Compensation Scheme

RM Tracked lower entry

Special Delivery Contract and Group rates

Response Services User Guide

January 2010

Special Delivery by 9am

On 8th January 2010 Royal Mail notified Postcomm that on 8th April 2010 a change to the terms and conditions for Royal Mail Special Delivery 9.00am would come into effect.  Deployment of this initiative has been delayed.  Royal Mail will advise of the new deployment date as and when one is set.

Special Delivery Next Day  '1pm' exception

March 2010

Amendments to Royal Mail Tracked™ Terms & Conditions

On 12th March 2010 Royal Mail notified Postcomm that on 14th June 2010 a change to the terms and conditions for Royal Mail Tracked would come into effect.  This initiative deployment has been delayed and will now come into effect on 13th September 2010. Customers previously posting on Despatch Express will need to transfer to Despatch Manager Online to benefit from this initiative. Royal Mail will be contacting these customers to discuss migration to Despatch Manager Online. Customers posting less than 300,000 items a year on their own Despatch Management system will need to make certain alterations to access these new features. Royal Mail will also be contacting these customers to discuss the changes needed.

April 2010

Amendments to the Royal Mail Specific Terms for International Services

  June 2010

Big Book Heavyweight booking period Relaxation

Launch of Royal Mail Tracked Next Day

Royal Mail Tracked Product Enhancements

Launch of Mailsort 70 and Sustainable Mail 70

July 2010

Amendment to Special Delivery™ sold on Account Terms and Conditions