Dispute between Whistl and Royal Mail concerning terms offered in response to a new access service request

[POSTMAN]

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/bu ... yal%20Mail

Ofcom has today published a non-confidential version of our final conclusions (PDF, 884.8 KB), resolving this dispute. We have also published a non-confidential version of Royal Mail’s comments (PDF, 217.5 KB) on our provisional conclusions. These are the only comments we received.

Ofcom was asked to resolve a dispute concerning whether Royal Mail responded to a new access service request by Whistl with terms, conditions and charges that were fair and reasonable.

The scope of this dispute was to determine:

whether Royal Mail can pass on the costs of complying with its obligations under access condition USPA 5.3 to Whistl via the charges that Whistl would pay for the tracked large letter service it has requested; and
whether access condition USPA 5.4(b) allows Whistl to consent in writing to the disclosure or use of information Royal Mail would obtain as a result of providing the tracked large letter service that has been requested by Whistl such that access condition USPA 5.3 does not apply in the context of providing that service.

After considering all the relevant submissions, here's what we decided:

Royal Mail can pass on the costs of complying with its obligations under access condition UPSA 5.3 to Whistl.
Although Whistl can mechanically consent in writing to the disclosure or use of information Royal Mail would obtain as a result of providing the tracked large letter service that has been requested by Whistl, in the specific context of providing the service requested, we consider that USPA 5.3 continues to apply.