Postal services

Under the Postal Services Act, CTU is responsible for protecting users and other postal service market participants. It maintains a list of operators, performs analyses of the general availability of the universal services and examines the need to impose the obligation to provide and ensure the universal services, makes decisions to grant postal licences and monitors whether the operators meet their obligations under this act.

According to Section 2(1)(a) of the Postal Services Act, postal service is an activity which consists of postal mail collection and its sorting and transportation over the postal network. The purpose of postal services is to deliver the mail to the recipient. Postal delivery of cash is also considered as postal service.

According to Section 2(2) of the Postal Services Act, the transportation of postal consignments by a party that was not involved in the collection, sorting or delivery of such consignments is not a postal service. A service similar to postal service carried out by the sender or by a party connected with the sender is also not a postal service.

According to Section 2(j) of the Postal Services Act, foreign postal service is a service whose provision was agreed outside the Czech Republic and whose purpose is to deliver postal consignments or amounts of cash in the Czech Republic, and which belongs to the sphere of postal services in the phase provided by the operator in the territory of the Czech Republic.

In case of any doubt as to whether or not a company provides postal services, it is possible to contact the Department of Communications and Postal Services Regulation of CTU, using the CTU’s contacts.

Business in postal services in the territory of the Czech Republic can be carried on under conditions set out in the Postal Services Act by individuals and legal entities that meet the general conditions. Authorisation to do business commences for these parties on the date of delivery of a written notification, which has to meet the requirements specified in Section 18(2) and (3) of the Postal Services Act.

The activities, carried out by CTU to ensure conditions for business and to exercise state administration in the postal services area in compliance with the Postal Services Act, include in particular that CTU:

1. performs analyses of the general availability of the universal services and reviews the need to impose obligations to provide and ensure universal services;
2. maintains a list of operators and grants postal licence to providers who have the obligation to provide and ensure universal services
3. determines net costs of providing and ensuring universal services, issues decisions to determine preliminary net costs and net costs that represent an unfair financial burden and decides about the obligation of postal licence holder to repay excessively reimbursed costs to the state budget
4. issues decisions on the price of universal services and exercises price control in the postal services area, including foreign postal services, and prices paid for access to postal infrastructure
5. settles disputes where provided for by Postal Services Act
6. cooperates with the EU bodies and national regulatory authorities of the EU Member States with similar substantive scope of competence, in particular by submitting and obtaining data and information provided for by the Postal Services Act, decisions issued under the Postal Services Act or by the EU legislation, and performs other tasks related to postal services regulation arising from the EU membership
7. defines, collects and enforces fees
8. exercises control in the postal services area
9. performs the state statistical service, including data collection, in the postal services area and foreign postal services
10.  imposes, collects and enforces penalties for breaches of the obligations set out in the Postal Services Act and the regulation on cross-border parcel delivery services
11. issue implementing legal acts in the postal services area within the range of authorisation under Postal services Act
12. is the administrative authority for legal enforcement of the (financial) obligations laid down by Postal Services Act or imposed ex officio on the basis thereof;
13. decides on the amendments of postal terms according to Section 6 paragraph 4
14. decides on the amendments of draft contract on access to postal infrastructure in compliance with Section 34 (3)
15. is the competent national regulatory authority under the Regulation on cross-border parcel delivery services

CTU also promotes the interests of users in order to ensure the provision of the universal services, in particular:

1. gives an opinion, upon request, on disputes concerning providing and ensuring postal services, where necessary to settle the dispute
2. publishes a summary report on the fulfilment of the obligations imposed on postal license holders by Postal Services Act, at least once a year, by appropriate means, including publication in the Postal Bulletin,
3. takes other measures to foster proper providing and ensuring of the universal services
4. decides, in case of doubt, whether a service is a postal service, upon request or on its own initiative
5. for each reporting period, CTU shall publish a report containing information about the verified amount of net costs, the intangible and market benefits of the postal licence holder in compliance with Section 34b and the reimbursements made of preliminary net costs and net costs representing an unfair financial burden; this report shall form a part of CTU´s annual report under the Electronic Communications Act.

Under the Postal Services Act, parcel delivery service operators are obliged to provide information to CTU under Regulation (EU) 2018/644 of the European Parliament and of the Council on cross-border parcel delivery services. For more information about these services, see the Parcel Delivery section.