Negotiation Chapter 3: harmonisation of legislation and development of a new postal services strategy

In the scope of activities related to the Negotiating Chapter 3, the Policy and Legal Advice Centre (PLAC III) project has provided support to the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications in further harmonisation of the Law on Postal Services with Union acquis and in drafting of a new Strategy for the development of postal services in the Republic of Serbia.

The Law on Postal Services, in force as of November 2019, is already harmonised with the Postal Directive (Directive 97/67/EC), but it is necessary to harmonise by-laws. It is also necessary to transpose the Regulation 2018/664 on cross-border parcel delivery services and some provisions of the so-called Third Postal Directive into the national legislation, having in mind that these legal acts were subsequently adopted in the EU.

The project experts performed a legal gap analysis of the national legislation with the relevant EU directives and provided recommendations for further harmonisation. Out of 17 bylaws, seven are in the competence of the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications while 10 are in the competence of the Republic Agency for Electronic Communications and Postal Services (RATEL).

At the workshop held on December 23, experts Estera Rakić and Nikola Knezević presented the results of the analysis of the legislation. As they determined, the Law on Postal Services needs to be harmonized with Regulation 2018/664 in the parts related to: the definition of parcels, definitions of parcel service providers, greater transparency of parcel prices in international traffic, definition of subcontractors and definition of misdemeanour provisions in case data are not submitted to the Agency.

The experts also presented the Draft of the new Strategy for the development of postal services in the Republic of Serbia. Among recommendations for postal policy makers, they listed the need to exercise flexibility to ensure a sustainable universal postal service, to take into account the impact on the environment and social conditions, as well as to create conditions for the smooth development of international e-commerce.

Representatives of the line ministry, RATEL and the Public Company “Post of Serbia” attended the workshop.