The European Commission has given its blessing to the proposed creation of a low-price direct mail service with a guaranteed delivery of five days (not including the day it is mailed).
The EC announced this in a paper commenting on REIMS II agreement created by 17 European post offices to fix terminal dues rates. Terminal dues is the payment made by a mailing country to a receiving country for delivering cross-border mail.
The agreement would ensure that direct mail is treated as a separate postal item, according to the Federation of European Direct Marketing (FEDMA). Previously, all mail was treated as being “implicitly first class mail,” FEDMA stated.
Mailers would have to send a minimum of 500 pieces to be eligible for the proposed International Direct Mail service. No pre-sorting would be required.
Several post offices signed the agreement to create the service last January. However, these did not include Royal Mail Group plc and An Post, the Irish Postal Service.
According to FEDMA, the Dutch Post, TPG, will not sign REIMS and An Post has been told by the Irish Postal Regulator not to sign it.
The agreement also calls for a sliding scale of price increases over the next few years, and for a guarantee that express mail and other postal services can become part of the system.
“We welcome the European Commission
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