The Bundestag has passed the first reform of the postal law in 26 years. The amendment is intended to give Deutsche Post more time to deliver letters, but at the same time make them reach consumers more reliably. The corresponding draft law was approved by the Bundestag on Thursday, with the votes of the traffic light factions of the SPD, Greens and FDP. The Union and AfD voted against it.
In Germany, 60 million letters and ten million packages are sent every day. In the long term, a comprehensive and affordable service must be ensured. In order to improve competition on the market, the Federal Network Agency is to be given more powers. The working conditions for parcel carriers are to be improved.
Currently, at least 80 percent of letters in Germany must be delivered on the next working day, and 95 percent must reach the recipient after two working days. In the future, 95 percent of standard letters should reach the recipient on the third working day after being posted, and 99 percent on the fourth working day. This will mean that the post office will no longer use night flights for letter delivery. The company had already stopped night flights for the transport of letters in Germany at the end of March in anticipation of the new law. “Longer delivery times mean that night flights are no longer necessary,” said DHL boss Tobias Meyer.
Packages over 20 kilos should only be transported by a single delivery person with “suitable technical aids”. However, the government is to define exactly what this means in its own regulation by the end of 2024. Delivery companies should also have to register with the network agency in a provider directory. Clients must then check their subcontractors for reliability after three months and then every twelve months. This is to prevent employee rights from being circumvented via subcontractors.
Competitors of the post office have repeatedly accused the DAX group of price dumping in the wholesale business. There are to be new rules when the network agency sets the postage for private customers – a kind of price cap. The postage for a standard letter should not be able to rise above the maximum limit of one euro in the next round in 2025, according to recent reports from the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The mass product currently costs 85 cents.
The post office said the law contained some “bitter pills”. Bureaucracy would be expanded. The additional access for competitors would make the universal service more expensive. “We are now hoping for a speedy adoption by the Federal Council so that our employees and consumers finally have clarity and the regulatory process that has already begun for the years 2025 to 2027 can be completed on time.”