Press Release: Antitrust: Commission requests Slovakia to re-open competition in the hybrid mail sector

The European Commission decided that recent amendments to Slovakia's postal legislation infringe EC Treaty rules on dominant market positions (Article 82) in conjunction with Article 86. These rules require Member States to ensure that measures concerning public companies or companies to which Member States confer special or exclusive rights comply with all Treaty rules, including the antitrust rules. The Commission's decision is directly legally binding on Slovakia, which must inform the Commission within one month of the measures undertaken to ensure that hybrid mail services remain open to competition. The amendment in question extended the monopoly of the incumbent operator, Slovenská Pošta, to the delivery of hybrid mail services, while this activity had until then been open to competition. As a consequence, Slovak postal operators which had already entered this market are prevented from continuing their activity and their economic viability is endangered. On 18 June 2008, the Commission asked Slovakia to clarify the amendments in question because it had doubts as to their compatibility with EU competition law. However, the replies have not dispelled these doubts.