(1)

On 20 June 2014, after pre-notification contacts with the Commission, the Hellenic Republic submitted a notification concerning the establishment of a mechanism for the compensation of Hellenic Post S.A. ( ELTA ) for the delivery of the Universal Postal Service over the whole territory of Greece.

(2)

By letter dated 2 July 2014, Greece agreed exceptionally to waive its rights deriving from Article 342 of the TFEU in conjunction with Article 3 of the EC Regulation 1/1958 and to have the Decision adopted and notified pursuant to Article 297 of the TFEU in English language.

(3)

ELTA was founded in 1828 and since 1996 it operates as a public limited company (S.A.). The State currently holds 90 % of ELTA's share capital and the remaining 10 % is owned by Hellenic Postbank (5).

(4)

ELTA offers postal services, financial, banking/insurance services, retail products and courier services. In 2012, ELTA had a turnover of €400,59 million, with EBIT amounting to €1,65 million. 75 % of this turnover was generated through the provision of postal services, whilst the remaining 25 % of turnover derived from the handling of parcels (3,9 %), the provision of financial services (18,2 %) and other services (e.g. philately, retail merchandise, etc.) (2,9 %). In 2012, ELTA employed 9  230 staff.

(5)

ELTA is the larger provider of postal services in Greece. Pursuant to Law 4053/2012 (6), transposing the 3rd Postal Directive (7) and fully liberalising the postal market in Greece on 1st January 2013, ELTA has been designated the Universal Service Provider (USP) until 31 December 2028. As a result of this and in conjunction with the geographic morphology of Greece, ELTA has to deliver this universal service through the largest retail network in Greece with more than 1  500 access points.

(6)

In particular, ELTA provides its services through 773 postal offices, 10 collection/sorting centres and 83 delivery units. The following table depicts the number of postal offices, collection/sorting centres and delivery units located in dense urban, urban, suburban and rural areas.

Table 1

Number of postal offices, collection/sorting centres and delivery units in dense urban, urban, suburban and rural areas

(7)

ELTA is also entrusted with other services of general economic interest (SGEIs) such as basic banking services (receipts, payments of social benefits and pensions, payment of bills, cash payments) or the issuing of licences, certifications and certificates sent by the State to citizens. For the time being, no specific compensation is planned for these additional SGEIs and this notification only concerns the compensation of ELTA for the provision of the universal postal service.

(8)

ELTA has received on several occasions in the past investment aid to improve the delivery of its public services. For instance, on 25 January 2012, the Commission authorised a € 52 million grant from the Greek State to ELTA for the financing of modernization projects (8).

(9)

Through the Postal Law 4053/2012, adopted on 7 March 2012, which implements the 3rd Postal Directive, ELTA has been entrusted with the universal postal service obligation (USO) for the period 2013-2028. The Ministerial Decision ‘on the determination of the content of the Universal Postal Service’ (9), adopted on 28 February 2013 by the Deputy Minister for Development, Competitiveness, of Infrastructure, Transport and Networks, further clarifies the content of the USO.

(10)

The requirements regarding the provision of the USO by ELTA can be summarised as follows:

(11)

To compensate ELTA for the net cost incurred due to the fulfilment of its obligations as the USP, the Hellenic Republic intends to establish a five-year compensation scheme based on a compensation fund (hereinafter ‘The compensation fund mechanism’) from 2015 to 2019 or from 2016 to 2020 (depending on the duration of the transitory regime defined below in paragraph (12)). The compensation fund mechanism will allow the compensation of ELTA by contributions from other postal services providers active on the Greek market. The possibility to establish such mechanism is provided for by article 7 of the 3rd Postal Directive (10): ‘Where a Member State determines that the universal service obligations […] entail a net cost […] and represent an unfair financial burden on the universal service provider(s), it may introduce […] a mechanism for the sharing of the net cost of the universal service obligations between providers of postal services (and/or users)’.

(12)

Taking into consideration that the establishment of such a mechanism is novel and the postal services market in Greece has only recently been liberalised, the Hellenic Republic has decided to implement a two-year or three-year transitory State-funded compensation regime (hereinafter ‘The transitory regime’) before establishing the mechanism requiring the contribution of other postal services providers. The transitory regime (for years 2013, 2014 and, potentially, also 2015) will provide for the compensation of ELTA through State funding along the principles of the Commission Decision on the application of Article 106(2) of the Treaty to State aid in the form of public service compensation (hereinafter ‘the 2012 SGEI Decision’) (11).

(13)

The two notified measures are described below.

(14)

The Greek authorities will adopt a ministerial decision for the two-year (for years 2013 and 2014) or three-year transitory regime (for years 2013, 2014 and 2015) (hereinafter ‘Ministerial Decision on the transitory regime’), based in particular on the decision of the Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Commission (EETT) (12)‘Determination of the methodology of the calculation of the net cost of the universal postal service provision’ (13).

(15)

ELTA's compensation under the transitory regime will be established according to the following process:

(16)

Within 3 months from the end of the reference year, ELTA will submit, at its own initiative, to the EETT, a report setting out the calculation of the compensation amount ELTA is entitled to (hereinafter ‘the Compensation Amount’), and all the relevant evidence/materials. The calculation will be based on the net avoided cost methodology as described in section 2.4 below.

(17)

The EETT will assess, within a four-month period, the content of the report submitted by ELTA and will request from ELTA corrections to the analysis carried out as well as additional supporting materials and/or clarifications, as appropriate.

(18)

Once the Compensation Amount is approved by the EETT, the EETT will calculate the Unfair Burden Threshold, as described in section 2.5 below, and decide whether ELTA is entitled to the Compensation Amount.

(19)

If ELTA is entitled to the Compensation Amount, the EETT will submit its assessment to the Minister of Development, Competitiveness, Infrastructure, Transport & Networks and the Minister of Finance (the Ministers).

(20)

The Ministers, by way of a Ministerial Decision, will order the transfer of the Compensation Amount to ELTA through the State budget if it is below € 15 million. Otherwise, the amount will be capped at € 15 million.

(21)

For the compensation of the USO in the years 2015 to 2019 (inclusive) (or the years 2016 to 2020 inclusive, if the transitory regime is set to cover the years 2013 to 2015 inclusive), the Hellenic Republic intends to set up the compensation fund mechanism that will be financed through the contributions of the postal services providers active on the Greek market, including ELTA.

(22)

The Hellenic Republic has submitted a draft Ministerial Decision (14) describing the detailed rules governing the setting up and functioning of the compensation fund mechanism. ELTA's compensation with the compensation fund mechanism will be established according to the following process:

(23)

Within 3 months from the end of the reference year, ELTA will submit, at its own initiative, to the EETT, a report setting out the calculation of the Compensation Amount and all the relevant evidence/materials. The calculation will be based on the net avoided cost methodology as described in section 2.4 below.

(24)

The EETT will assess, within a four-month period, the content of the report submitted by ELTA and will request from ELTA, corrections to the analysis carried out as well as additional supporting materials and/or clarifications, as appropriate (15).

(25)

Once the Compensation Amount is approved by the EETT, the EETT will calculate the Unfair Burden Threshold, as described in section 2.5 below, and decide on whether ELTA is entitled to the Compensation Amount or not.

(26)

If ELTA is entitled to the Compensation Amount, the EETT will calculate the contribution in the compensation fund of each postal operator as follows:

(27)

If the total contributions from operators exceed the Compensation Amount, the contribution for each postal operator will be reduced accordingly. On the basis of EETT’s calculation, the postal service providers will be required to pay their contributions to the compensation fund within a deadline of two months.

(28)

The total contributions are paid out to ELTA. If the total amount collected from the postal service providers is not sufficient to cover the Compensation Amount, then, by means of a Joint Ministerial Decision, such deficit will be covered by the State budget.

(29)

The two notified measures (direct subsidies for the transitory regime and the subsequent five-year compensation fund mechanism) rely both on the initial calculation by ELTA of the Compensation Amount it would be entitled to.

(30)

Such calculation is done in the following way:

(31)

The Greek authorities explain in their notification that, in order to calculate the net cost of the USO (NCUS) for the past year, ELTA uses an approach called the Commercial Approach Method (CAM), which relies on the net avoided cost methodology.

(32)

That CAM is based on two scenarios:

(33)

Each scenario (Factual and Counterfactual) is described along the same dimensions:

(34)

For each segment [product] x [area type], volume, revenues and costs are estimated for both the Factual and Counterfactual scenario. In particular, the impact of the Counterfactual scenario on the different components of postal production chain (collection, sorting, transportation, delivery — see figure 1 below) is calculated following the methodology described in paragraphs (35) — (64).

(35)

The CAM will comprise the following steps:

(36)

The Factual scenario derives from the Base Case scenario in which the USP provides the USO under the current legal framework, involving obligations as well as possible legal benefits.

(37)

The Factual scenario includes additional considerations to the Base Case scenario concerning the market conditions for single piece and bulk mail, while also making some adjustments to incorporate implications due to competition. In particular, in the Factual scenario, it is assumed that, due to market liberalisation, competition will emerge for bulk mail products, therefore reducing the bulk mail volumes of ELTA and adversely affecting ELTA's respective revenues. Such loss is assumed to be partly recovered by: (a) cost cutting, and (b) increasing single piece mail prices (given the inelastic demand). In the Factual scenario for 2013, ELTA is assumed to achieve a 10 % cost saving due to increased efficiency as a response to the upcoming competition.

(38)

This step involves identifying the alternative service offerings, meaning the part of the USO services that would not be provided or would be modified by a USP acting on a commercial basis (17). The following axes are considered:

(39)

Collection/Delivery Frequency and Quality Targets: Under the USO, ELTA has predefined quality targets. In countries, such as Greece, with particular geographical characteristics (e.g. large number of small islands) it is often the quality constraint regarding delivery time which causes the additional cost (e.g. need for night shifts and overtime, plane transportation for the remote areas). This is the case particularly in the priority mail services (D+1), where the requirement of 87 % next day delivery is very difficult and costly to fulfil in a country such as Greece. The situation is further worsened by the decline in mail volumes and the subsequent decrease in economies of scale for ELTA. Moreover, under the USO, ELTA must collect and deliver mail items once a day on every working day (i.e. Monday to Friday) each week.

(40)

Points of Service: Under the USO, ELTA must offer nationwide collection and delivery, maintaining at least one access point for the collection of mail per 1,000 residents in urban areas, and at least one access point in every village in rural areas. Since Greece is a country with a large number of small islands and many remote areas with low population density, collection and delivery in these areas is likely to cause relatively high costs for ELTA.

(41)

Pricing: Under the USO, ELTA must have uniform pricing for single piece mail, with affordable, cost-oriented, transparent and non-discriminatory tariffs. It must also provide special tariffs for the blind and the visually impaired.

(42)

The requirement for uniformity of prices results in a situation where universal postal services are offered at a loss in remote areas (i.e. semi-rural and rural areas in the case of ELTA). Furthermore, the requirement for affordable prices prevents ELTA from charging the first priority mail at a premium to better reflect the higher costs that are associated with its provision.

(43)

In particular, ELTA’s cost system allows for the differentiation between 5 geographical zones (dense urban, urban, semi-urban, semi-rural, and rural). In the following table the unit cost and price of 20gr. non-priority bulk mail, in each one of the geographical zones, is presented.

Table 2

Price & Unit Cost per Geographical Zone — 20gr. non-priority bulk mail

(44)

As evidenced in the table, the delivery of 20gr. non-priority bulk mail in semi-rural and rural areas is provided at a loss. The situation is similar for other mail items.

(45)

Impact on non-USO activities: It is also important to note that the CAM assumes that the impact on revenues and costs arising from non-USO services of ELTA in the Counterfactual scenario (due to not having a universal service obligation) is immaterial. This is due to the fact that all non-USO services provided by ELTA are offered through its post offices, which would be kept under the Counterfactual scenario (see paragraph (71)). The resources used for the non-USO services would be unaffected in the Counterfactual scenario and for that reason, the Greek authorities have ignored, in the Factual and Counterfactual scenarios, the revenues and costs arising from non-USO services. The Greek authorities however recognize that in the absence of the USO, there may be lower sales of other products in its post offices. Consequently, an amount has been included in the Counterfactual scenario as an intangible benefit (see paragraphs (59) and (79) below).

(46)

The third step involves the estimation of the cost savings the USP would achieve under the Counterfactual scenario for each component of the postal production chain:

(47)

Collection & Delivery Frequency: If ELTA reduces the collection and delivery frequency, cost effects are identified in the activities of collection and delivery. In order to quantify these effects, the costs attributable to the specific segments are identified: ELTA’s cost system allows for the differentiation between 5 geographical zones (dense urban, urban, semi-urban, semi-rural, and rural).

(48)

Transportation: Avoidable costs would also arise in the activity of transportation. ELTA’s cost accounting system traces the transportation costs back to local transportation, transportation to remote areas, plane and sea transportation. It is assumed that a percentage of the transportation costs to remote areas would be avoidable under the Counterfactual scenario.

(49)

Quality targets: Under the Counterfactual scenario, priority mail would have no specific quality target but would be provided on a ‘best effort’ basis. Quality measurements would continue in urban areas so as to guarantee a high service level and reliability of delivery. The modification of the quality targets requirement would only affect the provision of priority mail services. The costs that would be avoided by the modification of the quality targets requirement are the costs that would be saved by the provision of the first priority mail on a ‘best effort’ basis. Under the Counterfactual scenario, there will be limited need for overtime and night shifts, thus most of payroll costs attributable to first priority mail services could be avoided. Plane transportation costs would also be avoidable.

(50)

Due attention is given in this process to the issue of double counting: Interdependencies exist between alternative service offerings and the associated calculation of avoidable costs. For example, if a service is discontinued, no savings resulting from the lowering of quality targets should be taken into account so as to avoid double counting. To neutralise this risk, the alternative service offerings are considered sequentially.

(51)

The fourth step involves the estimation of the foregone revenue resulting from the Counterfactual business strategy, by taking into account both direct demand effects (i.e. demand loss for products which would no longer be provided) and indirect demand effects (i.e. impact of a change in one service on the demand for other products of the USP).

(52)

The direct revenue effect concerns the revenue on products which would disappear or be provided at a different quality or price. As an example, ELTA would lose some of its revenue on mail distributed to sparsely populated areas if it reduced the frequency of deliveries to these areas. Likewise, revenues will be affected if tariffs change under an alternative service offering.

(53)

The indirect revenue effect concerns the revenue on products not targeted directly by the respective alternative business offering. The size of this loss depends on whether the discontinued and remaining services are substitutes or complements. For example, newspaper delivery and delivery to the entire parts of the country are complementary services. ELTA is likely to lose a significant part of revenues from daily newspaper delivery if it stops five day mail delivery in sparsely populated areas. Provision of priority and non-priority letters are substitute services. Demand for one type of mail can be replaced with the other type (at least to some extent).

(54)

Indirect revenue effects result from customers’ responses to a changed service offering. For instance, if ELTA would prefer to reduce the delivery frequency in a certain area, some customers (e.g. large mailers) might switch to alternative means of communication, such as another postal operator, or electronic alternatives.

(55)

In addition to cost and revenue effects implied by specific alternative service offerings, ELTA derives intangible and market benefits from being the USP. The fifth step of the commercial approach method estimates the value of any intangible and market benefits that ELTA might derive from its USO.

(56)

The intangible benefits that are taken into account in the calculation of the net USO costs are the following:

(57)

VAT exemption for the USO: The VAT exemption impacts ELTA’s profit position through demand effects. Indeed, in general, the exempted postal service provider will have an advantage since its prices, which do not bear any VAT, will be lower than those of a similar postal provider, which is subject to VAT. For the postal customers that are VAT exempt and cannot claim back VAT (e.g. banks, insurance companies and public organisations), ELTA, being VAT exempt, has an advantage over the not exempted postal providers, which are obliged to include VAT in their prices. Thus, the VAT exemption has a positive effect on demand and for that reason it is considered an intangible benefit. However, for the postal customers that are not VAT exempted and can claim back their input VAT on the purchased postal services, ELTA's VAT exemption has no demand effect. In this context, in the Counterfactual scenario it is assumed that, in case that ELTA were not VAT exempt, it would incur a decrease in the demand for bulk mail by VAT exempt clients.

(58)

Enhancement of brand value and enhanced advertising effect: ELTA is assumed to achieve higher sales due to positive impact of brand (i.e. customer retention and acquisition) and more effective advertising thanks to higher visibility (better value for money). With regards to the enhanced advertising effect, the benefit is estimated by taking into account the saving in advertising expenses by ELTA due to its USP status.

(59)

Demand complementarities: USPs supply via the postal outlet network products that are not related to the USO. If customers are buying these products in conjunction with the purchase of universal service products, then, a demand complementarity occurs.

(60)

Ubiquity  (19): Due to the USO obligation, ELTA may enjoy better customer retention and acquisition when mailers move address.

(61)

Philately market: ELTA has the exclusive sale of stamps and the monopoly over philately market. The revenue arising from the sale of stamps in 2012 is about € 3,5 million, whereas the operating expenses attributed to this activity are approximately € 2,7 million.

(62)

Grants: ELTA receives EU grants (e.g. NSRF grants) due to its USP status. EU funding that was approved by the Commission’s decision of 25 January 2012 (see paragraph (8)) will be taken into account, to the extent that it is linked to the provision of the postal USO.

(63)

The NCUS is calculated as the difference between the USP’s profit level in the Factual and Counterfactual scenario. By comparing these two scenarios, the CAM calculates to what extent the USP is ‘worse-off’ because of having the USO as opposed to pursuing alternative service offerings in the context of a competitive market.

(64)

The CAM thus evaluates the total commercial impact from discontinuing a given USO service by taking into account all relevant cost and revenue effects, and calculates the NCUS as the difference in profit with and without the USO. It therefore provides an estimate of the NCUS which, if fully compensated, would make the designated USP indifferent about whether to provide the USO or not in a liberalised market.

(65)

In the Factual scenario for 2013, ELTA is assumed to reduce its bulk mail volumes by […]% in the dense urban zone, […]% in the urban zone and […]% in the other three zones.

(66)

The resulting loss is assumed to be partly recovered by a 10 % cost saving due to increased efficiency as a response to the upcoming competition and by a […]% increase in single piece mail prices (combined with a […]% volume loss due to price increases).

(67)

Collection/Delivery Frequency and Quality Targets: Customer surveys (conducted by PwC in collaboration with ELTA in Greece during 2012) indicate that residential customers have a low demand for frequent delivery, with the majority of them considering acceptable a collection and delivery of mail items every two or more days. Similar are the expectations of the business customers, of whom only a small proportion uses first priority mail, and who seem to be more concerned with achieving the lowest price possible.

(68)

As a result, it is assumed that, without the USO, ELTA would reduce the collection and delivery frequency and would provide first priority services on a commercial choice basis (without strict quality target for D+1). The impact of such a change has been estimated by ELTA to be the following for 2013:

(69)

Moreover, it is assumed that ELTA will lose a percentage of the volume of postal items delivered under first priority mail category due to substitution, whilst the rest of the first class mail will be treated as second priority mail. This, combined with the reduction of street post boxes, is assumed to result in a […]% decrease of the total volume of postal items for 2013.

(70)

Points of Service: It is assumed that, in the Counterfactual scenario, deliveries of postal items in rural and semi-rural areas would be discontinued and hence all costs associated with delivery will be avoided. For the remaining costs, only […]% is assumed to be avoidable whereas the rest ([…]%) is assumed to be fixed and thus unavoidable. Fixed/unavoidable costs include mainly personnel costs (20), as well as general and administrative costs, financial costs etc.

(71)

It is noted, however, that though the Counterfactual scenario in the NCUS calculation model assumes that the delivery of postal items in non-economic areas (rural and semi-rural areas) will cease, offices (shops) in such areas will continue to operate providing all other business such as financial services and parcel deliveries. To this end, the impact on revenues and costs arising from parcels, financial and other non-USO services that are handled through the traditional postal network of ELTA will be minimal; hence, they have been excluded (ignored) from both the Factual and Counterfactual scenario.

(72)

Moreover, it is assumed that ELTA will reduce its letter boxes thus leading to saving in costs of maintaining and servicing them of € […] million for 2013.

(73)

Pricing: under the Counterfactual scenario, it is assumed that ELTA could change its pricing structure and, given the low price elasticity in the single mail letter market, ELTA would increase the price of the priority mail services to such an extent that it will cover the associated costs and produce a reasonable profit. It is assumed that ELTA will increase the price of the single piece by […]%. Due to the fact that demand for single piece mail is rather inelastic, the volume decrease due to the higher price is not expected to exceed […]%. The estimation for single piece mail price elasticity of […] is based on customer surveys conducted by PwC in collaboration with ELTA during 2012 in Greece.

(74)

VAT exemption for the USO: In the calculation of the NCUS, it is assumed in the Factual scenario that, due to market liberalisation, competition will emerge for bulk mail products and will target business customers which are not VAT exempted. This results for instance in a […]% loss in total bulk mail volume in dense urban areas.

(75)

This […]% volume loss pertains solely to customers that are not VAT exempted, which account for c. […]% of total ELTA's revenue. In essence, it is assumed that the volume loss for these not VAT exempted customers will be ([…]%/[…]% = […]%). It is noted that this volume loss is assumed to be incurred regardless of ELTA's VAT exemption as a result of the USO.

(76)

In the Counterfactual scenario, where it is assumed that ELTA would no longer be VAT exempt, the model assumes an additional bulk mail loss volume attributed to the VAT exempted customers, which account for the remaining […]% of total ELTA's revenue. The volume loss for these customers is assumed to equal the loss assumed for the not VAT exempted customers (i.e. […]%). Therefore, the additional bulk mail loss is estimated at […]%*[…]% = […]%.

(77)

The immediate influence of the VAT exemption is that ELTA cannot claim back its input VAT on its purchases. In this respect, it has been estimated that ELTA incurs a cost of € […] million due to not recovering input VAT.

(78)

Enhancement of brand value and enhanced advertising effect: With regards to the enhanced advertising effect, the benefit is estimated by taking into account the saving in advertising expenses by ELTA due to its USP status. Indeed, in 2011, the advertising expenses of ELTA were approximately € […] million, which is a relatively small amount if compared with the enhanced brand value of ELTA. The Greek authorities have assumed that in order for ELTA to achieve its current brand awareness, in case that it was a private company without ELTA’s wide presence, the advertising expenses would have to be approximately € […] million. Consequently, in the NCUS calculation model, the overall benefit is estimated at € […] million for 2013.

(79)

Demand complementarities: An amount of € […] million has been included in the Counterfactual scenario for 2013 as an intangible benefit due to the fact that ELTA may achieve higher sales of other products (as complement to the sale of USO products). This figure has been estimated taken into account that the revenue arising from non-USO services in 2013 is approximately € 74 million and a potential […]% of this revenue has been derived as a result of the sales of these (non-USO) products in conjunction with the purchase of universal service products.

(80)

Ubiquity: In the NCUS calculation model, this benefit is estimated at € […] million for 2013.

(81)

Philately market: Taking into account the potential decrease in sales of stamps in the next years due to the adverse economic environment and the electronic substitution and the non-operating expenses incurred by ELTA, this benefit is estimated to reach approximately € […] million for 2013.

(82)

Grants: The NCUS calculation model assumes that ELTA would receive a total amount of € 36,5 million. This figure is the approved amount by the Greek State Agency responsible for EU funds and is apportioned equally in the next seven years. Consequently, annual grants amount to € 5,2 million for 2013.

(83)

The table below present the result of the calculations of the Greek authorities for 2013 based on the methodology above (for more detailed results, see Annex I).

Table 3

NCUS estimation for 2013

(84)

As it can be seen from table 3, the NCUS is estimated to amount to approx. € 14,9 million for 2013.

(85)

The NIC calculation corresponds to the methodology based on cost allocation, which is an alternative method for calculating the net cost necessary to discharge the public service obligations. The NIC corresponds to the subtraction of the incurred costs of the USP in discharging the USO from the earned revenues in discharging the USO. Such calculation is rendered possible by the separation of accounts implemented in ELTA’s cost accounting (see paragraphs (150)-(156)).

(86)

The estimation of the NIC for 2013 is presented in the table below.

Table 4

NIC estimation (M€)

(87)

The Reasonable Profit ELTA is entitled to is calculated on the basis of the Return on Sales (ROS=EBIT/Turnover) for the USO with the following methodology:

(88)

Two samples of incumbent operators were selected: incumbent postal operators of the countries belonging either in the Euro Area of 17 countries, or of 15 countries in the European Union. The following table presents the list of countries included.

Table 5

Selection of samples