SwissPost Deregulation of postal market likely to be slowed

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Deregulation of postal market likely to be slowed

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Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The upper house of the Swiss parliament’s transport and telecommunications commission has agreed to back motions by the lower house that will slow down the deregulation of the Swiss postal system. The two houses have agreed that the ruling Federal Council should provide an interim report showing the impact of the first two years of deregulation before further measures to open the market are adopted.

The upper house commission also agreed to go along with a lower house motion to increase by CHF20 million a subsidy to the post office for the rebates it offers the press.

The issue of press subsidies for mailing newspapers has been a matter of heated debate in recent months, with the Federal Council saying it wants these to end in order to cut federal government costs, while the lower house had insisted on increasing the subsidy. The upper house had argued earlier that the amount of the subsidy should not be increased, but that the status quo should remain in place, but after meeting with post office directors, the commission agreed to back the lower house. The government and parliament will now have to resolve their differences.

Postal subsidies are traditionally considered an important way for voters to stay informed in Switzerland, where citizens go to the polls several times a year to vote on government or popular (citizen-proposed) initiatives.