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03.08.2022
Latvijas Pasts entirely rejects the statements made by the Latvian Press Publishers Association regarding the allegedly unilateral forwarding of changes in the tariffs for the delivery of subscription press for approval and the related consequences. Moreover, Latvijas Pasts wholly negates speculations about the threat to the media and state information space due to the tariff changes. At the same time, Latvijas Pasts fully agrees with the Latvian Press Publishers Association that independent media, a diverse information space and information accessible to all are a vital component of a democratic country.
Latvijas Pasts has submitted the draft tariff changes to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) in accordance with the applicable regulations, based on the actual delivery tariff costs, which may not cause losses to Latvijas Pasts as a state-owned company. The decision on tariffs is made by PUC; therefore, it will be reasoned and justified, taking into account all contributing factors.
The calculation of the new delivery tariff costs for the subscription press, like in the case of other tariffs of the universal postal service, is made in compliance with the terms and conditions of the PUC tariff calculation methodology and the existing regulatory framework, which determines a single delivery tariff throughout the country. The year 2022 has brought a significant increase in costs for Latvijas Pasts, as is the case with companies working in any other sector.
The costs of both fuel and energy resources, as well as labour, have risen sharply, making it necessary to plan accordingly changes in the tariffs for the delivery service of the subscription press, which, despite the ever-increasing costs, had been kept unchanged since 2013. If in the first half of the year there was no indication of the need to plan tariff changes for this service, it became clear in the recent few months that there was no other option.
At the same time, it should be emphasised that the statement claiming that the delivery costs for press publishers will double is not true. The expected increase in costs for publishers, comparing the existing tariff with the one submitted for consideration to PUC, taking into account the compensation mechanism for the press, is 8% of the total cost of delivery of subscription press: the rest will be compensated by the state.
Representatives of Latvijas Pasts regularly meet with press publishers, including the Latvian Press Publishers Association, to discuss current developments, including explaining the situation with the new tariff calculation and expected delivery costs. Referring to the above-mentioned calculations, the cost of delivery of subscription press will increase by approximately 0.01 euro per unit. For example, for customers who subscribe to weekly magazines, the increase in the cost of delivery of such a periodical could be 50 cents within a year.
Therefore, the public action of the association against Latvijas Pasts, the statements about the threat caused by the new tariff in regard to information availability and the spread of erroneous information about the size of the tariff increase, which it stated in its communication, are incomprehensible.
Press publishers are important cooperation partners and customers of Latvijas Pasts, and we value our cooperation very highly. Latvijas Pasts fully agrees with the Latvian Press Publishers Association that independent media, a diverse information space and information accessible to all are a vital component of a democratic country. Therefore, when revising service tariffs, the company always takes into account the interests and needs of the country as a priority.
About SJSC Latvijas Pasts
Latvijas Pasts ensures the widest availability of postal services throughout Latvia by maintaining more than 600 post offices. The primary function of the company is provision of the universal postal service; Latvijas Pasts also provides commercial transport, express mail, payment, press subscription, retail and philatelic services. Latvijas Pasts is a wholly State-owned company with about 3,000 employees. The quality measurements of Latvijas Pasts domestic mail deliveries are regularly conducted by Kantar TNS, one of the leading market, social and media research agencies in Latvia. In turn, the quality measurements of the cross-border deliveries are provided within the framework of the International Post Corporation through the intermediary of the research companies Kantar TNS, Ipsos and Quotas.
Additional information:
Gundega Vārpa | Head of External Communications
E-mail: pr@pasts.lv; gundega.varpa@pasts.lv
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