MONDAY JUNE 20, 2005

IN FOCUS: EXCLUSIVE PRIVILEGE – INTERNATIONAL MAIL

BACKGROUND
In August 2004 NAMMU provided all members with a copy of the announcement with the ruling made in favor of Canada Post Corporation, asserting the Corporation’s Exclusive Privilege extends to all Canadian originating letters weighing up to 500g, whether destined for delivery in Canada or outside of Canada. NAMMU petitioned the Minister Responsible for Canada Post Corporation to re-open the gazetting appeal period (the announcement of the ruling was made the day after the 60 day appeal period closed), but this appeal was denied by the Minister and Canada Post. NAMMU also asked members to provide input to the mailing industry impact assessment.

The impact assessment revealed the confusion and fear in the industry over this ruling, many not even understanding to what the Exclusive Privilege applies. There is unanimous condemnation of A-B-A Re-mail: letters originating in Canada that (re)enter Canada with foreign postage, destined for a Canadian recipient. As a result of this confusion, Canada Post accepted the invitation to participate in a National Information Forum, June 14th. Agenda items at this well attended Forum included: clarification of the ruling and to what it applies; status report on current legal proceedings; Q&A session; Industry next steps.

NEW
The June 14th FORUM further revealed the lack of understanding of the issues, and as clarification was presented on the various types of what Canada Post deemed “RE-MAIL”, anxiety grew and fears vocalized. Eventually, the complex and complicated RE-MAIL picture, was simplified to the following, based on the meeting input:

The “Other Re-mail Scenarios” presented by Canada Post are not seen in the same light by the mailing industry, particularly on North American mail. Many Canadian companies have offices and client lists in the United States, or could easily be part of a corporate global strategy to balance wokload efficiently amongst its resources, or have successfully competed against many other service providers to provide the service demanded by the client - including sophisticated sortation, downstream entry, compliance with USPS domestic requirements. It is absolutely transparent to the ultimate customer where the piece was manufactured – it is not Canadian mail, but items manufactured by Canadians. To interfere with this spells disaster for Canadian businesss.

A reality check for this: Canada Post cannot provide an equivalent service and it is preposterous to think they should incur the cost to do so. NAMMU opposes any attempt by Canada Post to implement action, and will mount any campaign necessary to effectively block it, based on the input received from its members.

The issues of A-B-B and A-B-C Re-Mail as defined by Canada Post are really the crux of the dispute between Canada Post and re-mailers. These applications of the Exclusive Privilege are under legal appeal, and NAMMU has not received clear cut messages nor input at the Forum to make comments at this point. NAMMU has since offered mediation assistance to the parties if this would prove useful in effecting a positive resolution.

NEXT
The complete presentation made by Canada Post at the National Information Forum is being made available to members and other interested parties. (Click here to view presentation) NOTE: Response to the delivery standards/measurement is still being clarified and will be available shortly; Canada Post signs confidential contracts with other postal administrations, and for this reason will not provide the unit cost nor approximate value of each of the “re-mail” components. The NAMMU estimates provided in this Forum recap are the result of consultation with UPU and US representatives.

NAMMU members are asked to provide insight and comments on business impact, now that clarification of the ruling and intended applications are available. Members are also invited to comment on the perspective offered in this Forum recap to ensure we are aligned with business realities. Please email your comments to the President, Kathleen Rowe: executive@nammu.org by June 30th. A sample of a generic clear, simple, business impact statement is also available (click here to download), which will enable NAMMU to be as specific as possible in its representations. All replies will be confidential, no individual organization will be identified, comments and dollar values will be shown only in aggregate form.