Universal services

At the European level, the universal services are described by the Directive 97/67/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 1997 on common rules for the development of the internal market of Community postal services and the improvement of quality of service, as amended by Directive 2002/39/EC and Directive 2008/6/EC. 

In the Czech Republic, in accordance with Act No. 29/2000 Coll., on Postal Services and on Amendments to Certain Acts (Postal Services Act), as amended, the term universal services is used. Universal services mean the minimum set of services that have to be continuously provided in the Czech Republic under the same conditions to all users at an affordable price and specified quality. The universal services include postal services, including international services, that are given the public needs protected by the state. These are the most important services - ordinary letters and parcels, registered items, insured items, postal orders.

The scope of universal services is specified in Section 3 of the Postal Services Act:

1. Delivery of postal items up to 2 kg;
2. Delivery of postal parcels up to 10 kg;
3. Delivery of an amount of money by postal order;
4. Delivery of registered items;
5. Delivery of insured items;
6. Free delivery of postal items up to 7 kg for the visually impaired;
7. Services that have to be provided on the basis of the obligations arising from the membership of the Czech Republic in the Universal Postal Union.

Universal services have to allow every working day at least one clearance and at least one delivery to the address of every natural or legal person.

Detailed technical specification of universal services is stipulated in the Decree No. 464/2012 Coll., on the determination of specifications of individual universal services and basic quality requirements for their provision, as amended by the Decree No. 203/2016 Coll.This Decree establishes the method of ensuring the provision of universal services, the minimum requirements on the accessibility of post offices and post boxes, exemptions from the obligation to ensure delivery to the address of each natural or legal person, and the information that should be available to postal service users, either on request or by posting it at the post offices or at the provider’s website. The Decree is not intended to put any limits (in addition to the obligations set out in the Decree) on how providers provide their services.

Government order No. 178/2015 Coll., on the determination of the minimum number of establishments for the provision of universal services became effective on 1 January 2016. This order set that the minimum number of postal licence holders establishments for ensuring and providing universal services is 3,200.

Review and scope of the imposed obligation

CTU regularly reviews the level of quality and the manner in which universal services are provided and ensured and their general availability throughout the territory of the Czech Republic. CTU also regularly reviews the obligation of the postal licence holder and submits for public consultation the intention to impose or not to impose the obligation to provide and ensure individual universal services.

Based on the results of the review and after consultation of the intention with the affected entities pursuant to Section 37(5) of the Postal Services Act, CTU has imposed an obligation to ensure the general availability of these universal services in the new postal licence for the period from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2024:

1. Delivery of postal items up to 2 kg to foreign countries and further at national level for postal items which are up to the metric of 35,3 x 25 x 2 cm and up to 1 kg of weight;
2. Delivery of postal parcels up to 10 kg to foreign countries;
3. Delivery of an amount of money by postal order; 
4. Delivery of registered items; 
5. Delivery of insured items; 
6. Free delivery of postal items up to 7 kg for visually impaired persons; 
7. Services that have to be provided on the basis of the obligations arising from the membership of the Czech Republic in the Universal Postal Union.

Compared to previous years, delivery of postal parcels up to 10 kg at national level and the delivery of postal items up to 2 kg at national level for postal items which exceed the metric of 35.3 x 25 x 2 cm or a weight of 1 kg were not imposed as an obligation to provide the universal service. The provision of these services is ensured on the market under conditions comparable to the requirements under the Postal Services Act, without the need to impose such an obligation

The decision to grant a postal licence

The CTU Council issued a Decision to grant a postal licence (only Czech version – rozhodnutí čj. ČTÚ-11 268/2022-610/XIV. vyř.), which imposed an obligation to ensure general availability of all universal services in the above mentioned scope continuously throughout the Czech Republic.

The following table contains a list of universal services with an indication of the specific postal services through which the postal licence holder provides them:

The postal terms and conditions of the above-mentioned universal services are available on the website of Česká pošta.

A list of municipalities and their parts, where the postal licence holder is obliged to operate post offices to ensure their availability, is annexed to this Decision. The postal licence holder may substitute some establishments from this list with other registered offices. Any changes shall be notified to CTU.

List of post offices

During the validity of its postal licence, Česká pošta notified the CTU on changes of its list, which are available in the document "Přehled oznámených změn" (in Czech language only).

The current list of establishments, which ensure availability of universal services in the municipalities and their parts, is published by Česká pošta on its website. The document is available in the Czech language only.