Postcomm response to Royal Mail's judicial review of retail zonal pricing decision
1 May 2008
Postcomm, the independent regulator for postal services yesterday received summons that Royal Mail intends to seek a judicial review of the regulator’s decision to reject the company’s recent ‘retail zonal pricing’ application.
The initial application, which was received in February 2007, was studied with great care, and consulted on widely, at Royal Mail’s request. Postcomm rejected the application because it put forward a pricing structure that appeared to have a number of discriminatory features and would have been introduced in a way that would lead to unreasonable changes for its customers. It is now for the court to determine the merits of the case.
Postcomm has not ruled out any future moves towards retail zonal pricing for products outside the universal service should Royal Mail propose an alternative approach that avoids the problems presented by the recent application. Postcomm is generally supportive of pricing that is more reflective of costs.
Notes for editors
- Royal Mail’s ‘retail zonal pricing’ application did not affect stamp prices or those bulk mail products that are included within the definition of the universal service. This judicial review refers to the retail zonal pricing application Royal Mail submitted to Postcomm on February 20 2007.
- More information on Postcomm's decision on Royal Mail's 'zonal pricing' application, is available at the zonal pricing section of Postcomm's website.
