New Cullen International Service Highlights the Continuing Challenges to Achieve a Single EU Market for Postal Services

BRUSSELS, February 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Cullen International, the leading provider of regulatory support services, today launched a new monitoring and benchmarking service on European postal market regulation. Coinciding with the target in the EU's Third Postal Directive for full market liberalisation in January 2013, the new service compares the different national postal regulatory frameworks, highlighting the challenges of accomplishing a single market for postal services.

Cullen International's new postal service reveals some marked differences in key areas:

• the universal service obligations imposed on postal providers, showing national differences going beyond the common ground defined by the Third Directive (for example, in terms of scope and frequency of delivery);
• the rules applying to the location and distribution of post offices, which are implemented according to the different national interpretations of citizens' needs;
• the conditions under which postal providers offer competing services, including for example how the VAT exemption for universal service providers is applied.

The new Cullen International service monitors EU developments and benchmarks postal regulation in six major European postal markets (Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK). The data is provided in clear, easy-to-use reports, allowing postal stakeholders to understand the details of and reasons behind national and EU differences and to compare countries and operators objectively.

"The expansion of our service portfolio to postal was a logical next step for Cullen International. We trust that our evidence-based research and neutral analysis will prove to be as valuable for those responsible for shaping, making or challenging policy decisions in the postal sector, as it has in the telecoms, media, e-commerce and energy sectors for over 25 years", said Philippe Defraigne, Director at Cullen International.

About Cullen International

Cullen International (http://www.cullen-international.com) is a provider of regulatory information covering the telecommunications, media, e-commerce, postal and smart energy sectors. For over 25 years, Cullen International has been tracking, reporting on and benchmarking regulatory developments, now covering Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa. Cullen International's comprehensive, insightful, unbiased and timely reports are widely relied upon by government institutions, regulators and industry.