Sweden first to embrace liberalisation

Date: 11/01/01

ONE of the French industry ministry's fears was that the push to liberalise the postal market would be handed to a Swedish presidency.

The Swedes are liberalisation enthusiasts. Sweden was the first country in the world to have a completely deregulated postal market when the monopoly on letter delivery was abolished back in 1993.

Sweden Post competes with direct-mail specialist CityMail Group, which last year sold a 67% stake to the British Royal Mail. It is no accident that one of the toughest times Deutsche Post had during its two-year acquisition spree was when the company took over Swedish company ASG, one of the largest Scandinavian transport enterprises specialising in freight and parcel services.

The European Commission allowed the sale but noted there had been "numerous complaints from private competitors who claim that it has financed its acquisitions with funds that have not been earned on the market, but through a privileged position as a monopoly".