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Berlin (dpa) - In dealing with customer complaints about damaged shipments, the federal government wants to make parcel service providers more accountable.
As the federal cabinet decided on Wednesday, companies will have to take part in arbitration proceedings by the Federal Network Agency in the future.
So far this is only voluntary.
The market leader, Deutsche Post DHL, is not participating, but competitor Hermes is.
For example, it concerns damaged shipments or packages that have not arrived at all.
Of the 1,365 arbitration requests that consumers submitted to the Federal Network Agency as the competent authority last year, 600 failed because the parcel service provider did not participate.
In 500 there was an agreement, 110 were withdrawn and the rest of the proceedings are still ongoing.
In theory, it is also about sending letters, but in fact almost all about parcels.
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Another cornerstone of the reform is the transfer of a regulation from an ordinance to the Postal Act.
This is about the question of how the Federal Network Agency should calculate the scope for increases in letter postage - two changes to the regulations in recent years had a positive effect on the Post and postage could rise more sharply than without these changes.
However, two courts had criticized the fact that the regulation is only in the ordinance and not in the Postal Act.
That should change.
This would keep everything the same with the postage increases.
The next increase in postage is planned for the beginning of 2022.
Post's competitors had criticized the type of postage increases - they complained that the market leader was allowed to increase its postage too much, cross-subsidize its parcel business with the income and thereby make competition more difficult.
The lawsuit brought by the Biek postal competitor association led to success in the two courts, but the change in the law means that they will also have to expect quite high postage increases in the future.
The change in the law will still go to the Bundestag and Bundesrat - only then would the new requirements be binding.
The legislative process should be completed by March at the latest.
The changes are only valid as a “mini-novella”.
The “big” amendment to the Postal Act, on the other hand, was postponed to the next legislative period - it could mean that no more letters are delivered on Mondays.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210120-99-99161 / 2