1. The licences

1.1 Which services are submitted to the licence ?

They concern the natural or legal persons who provide a universal postal service. This service can be defined as follows :

• collection, sorting, transport and delivery of postal items up to 2 kg (Postal item : an item addressed in the final form in which it is to be carried by the universal service provider. In addition to items of correspondence, such items also include for instance books, catalogues, newspapers, periodicals and postal packages containing merchandise with or without commercial value);
• collection, sorting, transport and delivery of postal parcels up to 10 kg;
• delivery of postal parcels received from other State members of the European Union and weighing up to 20 kg;
• services related to registered items and insured items.

The universal postal service includes both the national services and the cross-border services. It should be noted that some services are currently reserved to La Poste SA (see Art 144octies, § 1 of the Act of 21 March 1991) and therefore cannot be provided by another company. It concerns the handling of the domestic letter post with a price lower than € 1.3 as far as the weight is lower than 50 grammes. The national or foreign postal operators (natural or legal persons) who already provide a universal postal service can submit their application for a licence until 17 June 2006. After having submitted the licence application, they can continue to exercise their activity, provisionally, up to the date when they are notified of a final decision.

1.2 What should contain a licence application ?

It should include the following elements :

1. Name and address of the applicant as well as the operating address in Belgium (including the registered office or the head office in Belgium);
2. A functional, geographical and commercial description of the business and the date of commercial opening of the service;
3. A financial plan showing that the applicant is able to carry out the activity planned in a normal way according to the quality standards and this, at least for two years.

This file must be submitted by means of the form.
The application must be signed and dated.

1.3. To whom should the application be addressed ?

The application must be submitted by postal registered letter to the Institute :

BIPT
Postal sector Service
Boulevard du Roi Albert II, 35
1030 BRUSSELS

Within the thirty calendar days starting from the submitting of the application, BIPT sends a recommendation and a bill for the fee payment. If the company has no observation, the licence is granted within fifteen days (the licence is valid for 10 years). If an application is incomplete, BIPT informs the applicant that he has sixty days to complete his file. If he does not answer within the deadlines, the application is rejected.

Registering a licence application costs € 375 by service category. This amount shall be invoiced after the request has been received and will be payable into account No 679-1692923-79 of the Institute before the licence is granted.

1.4 What are the obligations relating to this licence ?

The granting of the individual licence depends on the commitment of the applicant to respect and make respect the following elements by the subcontractors, and if need be, by any person providing him with staff:

• Sending duration, regularity, respect of the geographical area and service reliability.
• Regularity : the services cannot be limited or suspended, except by force  majeure or for technical reasons beyond the provider’s control. In case of interruption or stopping of the non-reserved services that are part of the universal service, the postal operator is to immediately inform the Institute of it as well as the users as soon as possible.
• By reliability we mean that the licence applicant or holder makes use of sufficient means and notably a minimal infrastructure, enough staff and an appropriate operational process, in order to ensure the postal services provision included in the non-reserved universal postal sector.
• A grievance procedure must be determined and applied.
• The general terms of sale include the information on tariffs, rules and procedures aiming at defining the responsibilities in case of loss or damage to the postal items, grievance procedures and quality criteria to respect. These general terms of sale must be made available to the users in a simple way.
• The coverage of the geographical zone of the licence as well as the related  sending duration must be respected. (the licence applicant must at least cover one municipality).
• Except for newspapers, postal items must bear a postage meter impression to  determine the non-reserved universal service provider who handled the item.
• This impression will comprise at least : the name and address of the non-reserved universal service provider; the number of his licence.
• An undeliverable item service must be provided for.
• The operator cannot provide the services reserved to La Poste.
• The operator must inform BIPT of his turnover.

Essential requirements :

• Confidentiality of the post and protection of privacy;
• Respect of the network and environment security;
• Prohibited transport of hazardous goods;
• Prohibited handling of items bearing outside elements that are contrary to accepted standards of good behaviour.

Tariff principles : the tariffs of each service included in the universal service provision are determined according to the following principles :

• Prices must be affordable so that all users have access to the services offered;
• Prices must be based on the universal service costs;
• Tariffs must be transparent and non-discriminatory;
• Tariffs are the same on the whole Kingdom territory whatever the collection and delivery places may be.

BIPT can maintain control in order to make sure that all obligations relating to licences are respected.

2. The declaration

2.1 Which services are submitted to the declaration ?

The declaration must be submitted to the Institute by any natural or legal person who provides or wishes to provide a postal service that is not included in the universal postal service.

This declaration must be made at least four weeks before the beginning of the service provision by any company that wishes to provide such service or at the latest on 17 April 2006 (i.e. three months after the publication of the Royal decree in the Belgian official journal of laws) for any natural or legal person who already provides such service.Within three weeks after the Institute receives the declaration, BIPT sends a related acknowledgement of receipt by registered letter to the person concerned.

2.2. What should contain a declaration application ?

The application should contain the following elements:

• name of the operator and full address;
• functional, geographical and commercial description of the operation and date of the service commercial opening.

This file must be submitted by means of the form.
The application must be dated and signed.

2.3. To whom should the application for a declaration be addressed ?

The postal operator is requested to submit his application for a declaration by the Institute by postal registered letter :

BIPT
Service du Secteur postal
Boulevard du Roi Albert II, 35
1030 BRUSSELS

Registering a declaration costs € 250.
This amount must be transferred into the account 679-1692923-79 as soon as a bill is received.

2.4 What are the obligations relating to this declaration ?

The declaration binds the applicant to respect and make respect the following obligations by the subcontractors and any person providing him with staff :

• confidentiality of the post;
• security of the network and respect of the environment;
• protection of privacy;
• prohibited transport and delivery of items bearing outside inscriptions obviously contrary to accepted standards of good behaviour or the public order;
• prohibited provision of the postal service included in the reserved services.

Any information request can be sent to the Institute at the following e-mail address : postalsector@ibpt.be

• Contact
• Sitemap