Estonia, Markets and Companies, Post Office

Pursuant to the Postal Act, at least 90% of items of correspondence forwarded as ordinary items which, for the provision of domestic postal services, are deposited with the universal postal service provider through a letterbox or post office before the latest prescribed collection time must be delivered to the addressee on the working day following the date of deposit. 

The Competition Authority said that in 2018, only 76% of letters were delivered to the addressee on the working day following the date of deposit, and the result did not improve at the beginning of 2019 either. 

The Competition Authority obliged the postal company to bring the quality of the service of forwarding of items of correspondence and the number of post offices into accordance with the Postal Act by Jan. 1, 2020 the latest. 

The Competition Authority also established that in the rural municipalities of Joelahtme and Elva the number of post offices of the universal postal service is smaller by one in each than required. As a result, the Competition Authority obliged the postal company to open one additional post office in the Joelahtme municipality on Jan. 1, 2020 the latest and one additional post office in the Elva municipality on Oct. 1 this year.

At the beginning of June, the Competition Authority announced that, under law, Eesti Post must not direct ordinary mail and periodicals to parcel terminals without the consent of the addressee but must continue delivering the items to the addressee's letterbox.