Belgium’s Post Faces Antitrust Allegation on Mail Handling

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Belgium’s Post Faces Antitrust Allegation on Mail Handling

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De Post NV/La Poste SA, Belgium’s state-controlled postal company, used its dominance to thwart smaller competitors in the market for mail-handling services, a legal panel of the country’s competition watchdog said.

An investigation showed De Post imposed discriminatory conditions between its own customers and the mail handlers as well as between the mail handlers themselves, the Brussels-based prosecutors’ college said in a statement today. It referred the case for further consideration by antitrust authorities.

The case follows complaints from G3 Worldwide (Belgium) NV, Publimail NV and Link2Biz NV. The discriminatory practices, which included a refusal to sell and the reinforcement of barriers to market access, existed as early as 2003, according to the statement from the prosecutors. Mail-handling services include preparation of mail for large companies and depositing that mail to the five big sorting centers in Belgium which are owned and operated by De Post.

Piet Van Speybroeck, a spokesman for De Post, said by telephone from Brussels that he couldn’t immediately comment on the case.