CTT having challenging week: State ‘freed’ from paying €23 million indemnity
CTT Post Office – the privatised postal service that has become synonymous with frustration – is having a difficult week: it has been fined almost €400,000 for violating “several obligations”, and has heard the Supreme Administrative Tribunal revoke a decision by the Court of Arbitration requiring the State to pay a €23 million indemnity.
But first to the fine – as this underscores the perceived day-to-day performance of CTT.
Regulator ANACOM found “failure to comply with the adequate quality standards that should be ensured in the provision of the universal service”, with particular emphasis on “the violation of the objective of postal network density and minimum service offerings”.
This sounds ‘highly technical’, but what it boils down to is that CTT has been known simply to leave packages and correspondence on ‘public roads’.
Sometimes, postal workers leave post with “unauthorised third parties, not making any attempt to deliver them by hand to recipients’ homes”; on other occasions, they leave ‘pick-up notes’ (ie notes telling recipients they need to go, with the note and personal ID, to a local post office, to pick up the package/ correspondence addressed to their home address) WHEN THE RECIPIENT IS ACTUALLY AT HOME (on some occasions, waiting for the package/ correspondence to arrive!) But, in the worst case scenario, correspondence is simply “left on public roads”, which “not only jeopardises the security, secrecy and inviolability of correspondence itself, but also makes it possible for personal data and the private lives of senders and recipients to be disclosed to third parties”.
ANACOM adds that “situations were also found in which CTT was not providing up-to-date information on IQS (internal quality score) and applicable prices at its postal establishments”.
The exact fine for these not inconsiderable failings came to €398,750.
CTT has a time limit in which it can lodge an appeal.
Meantime, the privatised service has been hit with another bucket of ice cold water: the €23.5 million that the Court of Arbitration ruled was due to be paid to it by the Portuguese State has been scrapped by the Supreme Administrative Tribunal.
As SIC Notícias explains: “The Portuguese State was ordered to pay compensation of €23.5 million to CTT for the unilateral extension of the concession contract, which ended in 2021, and for the impact of the pandemic on the company’s accounts.
“The Court of Abitration had ordered the State to pay €6.8 million for the impact of the pandemic and €16.8 million to restore the financial balance of the 2021 contract.
“Faced with the court’s decision in September 2023, the State appealed earlier this year” – and the appeal has now been decided in the State’s favour.
In a statement, CTT has said it ‘deeply regrets this decision’ explaining that the compensation was intended to restore the company’s financial equilibrium for 2021.
“The company was claiming €44 million for the unilateral decision to extend the concession contract and a further €23 million in compensation for the impacts of the pandemic”, said the statement, indicating that the indemnity hadn’t ticked all CTT’s boxes even when it existed.
Possibly, CTT will argue that the reason for leaving citizens’ correspondence on public roads and with unauthoritised third parties lies in its lack of financial equilibrium. We will have to wait for the next installment.
