Paris, 24 March 2010
In its opinion No. 2008-0002 of 5 February 2008, ARCEP indicated that, in light of the universal service tariffs for parcels, and because La Poste General Terms and Conditions forbid sending merchandise at the letter tariff, customers do not have access to an affordably priced offer for sending small items. To this end, the Authority approved the creation of the Mini-Max offer by La Poste in 2008.
ARCEP notes with some concern the findings published in the April issue of the magazine "60 millions de consommateurs" (60 million consumers) (1) on sending small items via La Poste, which were taken from a study carried out by the INC and co-financed by ARCEP. The study reveals that the Mini-Max offer is not being made widely available, despite it being part of the universal postal service, and that consumers either lack or have inaccurate information about this product.
The Authority is responsible for ensuring that La Poste meet its universal service obligations. It therefore requests that La Poste share its remarks on the results of this study and propose, within the next 30 days, the measures it plans on taking to ensure that consumers will truly have access to an affordably priced offer and clear and complete information on sending small items by the post.
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(1) 60 millions de consommateurs - number 448 - April 2010
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