Postal services are services of general economic interest and are essential for both commercial and private users.
As the regulatory authority for this sector, we supervise the Austrian postal service providers. We also ensure a nationwide basic provision of postal services (universal service) for all users at affordable prices.
We provide information and support regarding the necessary prerequisites for companies seeking to provide postal services.
Through our publications and Open Data, we make market data available to the general public.
When users experience difficulties with postal service providers, we offer support through our conciliation body. Complaints regarding the receipt of postal items can be reported to us and help us monitor systematic problems.
At the international level, we are actively engaging in topics related to postal services. This includes work on digital platforms at the European level.
Historical development
The ongoing process of liberalization has brought about a gradual reduction of reserved postal services. As of 1 January 2011, the "reserved postal service" of Österreichische Post AG, which had existed as a monopoly area until that time, was opened up to competition. This formally concluded the liberalisation of the postal market in Austria.
The liberalisation of the postal markets took place on the basis of framework conditions under European law, which among other things aim at creating a common European market. At the same time, regulatory authorities were established in the European Union, whose task is to maintain free competition on the national markets. The European legal framework initially consisted of two EU directives from the years 1997 and 2002; in addition, the Third Postal Directive was published in the EU's Official Journal in February 2008.
The European legal framework (and thus also the full liberalization of the postal service sector in Austria) was implemented in the Postal Market Act (PMG), which went into effect on January 1, 2011. The Postal Survey Ordinance 2019 (Post-Erhebungs-Verordung, PEV 2019) provides the basis for data collections on a quarterly basis in order to monitor the development of postal markets in Austria.
Institutional framework
In the field of postal regulation, RTR acts as the office of the Post-Control-Kommission (PCK). The PCK was established on 1 January 2008. The Post Office Advisory Board advises the PCK on issues related to the nationwide provision of post offices.
Alongside their Austrian counterparts, other institutions at the European level play a role in the regulation of the postal sector.
Publications
In the course of our activities, we publish decisions of the PCK and RTR as well as legal publications such as edicts, opinions, consultations or ordinances.
On the basis of the Postal Market Act (PMG), we regularly publish the list of notified postal services (§ 25 para. 2 PMG), the list of concessionary postal services (§ 27 para. 4 PMG) and the results of the measurement of transit times (§ 33 PMG) as well as the postal codes used by the universal service provider, Österreichische Post AG (§ 36 para. 2 PMG).
In our RTR Post Monitor, we publish up-to-date information on the Austrian postal market on a quarterly basis.
