How can liberalisation impact on freepost schemes ?
The introduction of the aforementioned EU rules and any further liberalisation could cause problems for the freepost services that exist, because freepost is closely linked to the universal service concept. If we check the EBU position on postal services, it becomes clear that the basic principles it sets out could be seriously undermined by further liberalisation of postal services. Firstly, there will need to be a strong provision requiring all service providers in the market to provide postal services for blind and partially sighted people. If free competition means that the universal service provider is left to deal only with letters of less than 50 grams and therefore restructures its operations to handle only this type of mail items, then that service provider will have problems handling freepost items that are heavier. A Braille letter, for example, will normally weigh more than 50 grams. Secondly, there will need to be assurances that services will be reliable, accessible, secu
