Annex: Transposition Notes for the Postal Services Directive (2008/6/Ec) Article 9: Conditions governing the provision of postal services: granting of Authorisations Implementation
532.Section 28 provides a general authorisation for persons to provide postal services without the need for any licence or authorisation but the provision of those services may be subject to regulatory conditions imposed by OFCOM. The types of conditions are listed in Section 28(2).
533.Section 49 provides that “essential conditions” can be imposed on any postal operator if OFCOM consider it necessary for the purposes of safeguarding certain matters, which include some of the essential requirements which might not be secured by other means. Under section 42 general universal service conditions may be imposed on operators providing services within the scope of the universal service (as defined in section 41) to the extent necessary to secure the universal service. Section 36 provides that a designated USP condition may be imposed on a designated universal service provider to secure the provision of the universal service.
534.Schedule 6 provides for the procedure in relation to imposing and modifying regulatory conditions and provides amongst other things that any condition must be objectively justifiable, non-discriminatory, proportionate and transparent. Notifications of conditions must be published.
535.Specific provision is made under section 57 for appeals to the Competition Appeal Tribunal against the imposition of regulatory requirements and the imposition of penalties for breach of a regulatory condition. The grounds for appeal are the same as could be made on judicial review. In addition, price control decisions may be appealed to the Competition Commission under section 59. Any other of OFCOM’s decisions can be appealed to the High Court in accordance with the usual rules on judicial review.