Because the Antitrust Authority sends a registered letter with the maximum penalty to the Post Office
All the details on the reasons why the Guarantor of the market fined the Poste Italiane group for 5 million euros due to the registered mail service
"This is the maximum amount allowed by law, but it is not deterrent in relation to the specific turnover of Poste Italiane in 2019 of € 3.492 billion. For the Authority, Poste's behavior causes damage not only to consumers, but also to the country's justice system ”.
This is the very heavy accusation that the Guarantor of the market and competition launches against Poste Italiane at the end of the provision by which the Authority chaired by Roberto Rustichelli sanctioned the Poste Italiane group for 5 million euros.
Here are all the details.
THE PENALTY TO ITALIAN POSTE
The Antitrust Authority imposed a fine of 5 million euros on Poste Italiane, the maximum allowed by law, for having adopted an unfair commercial practice in violation of the Consumer Code, consisting in the misleading promotion of characteristics of the delivery service of registered mail and the digital collection service of registered mail, the Guarantor puts in black and white.
WHAT THE ANTITRUST HAS DISCOVERED
In particular, the Authority ascertained that the "attempted delivery of registered letters is not always carried out with the timing and certainty emphasized in advertising messages, being, moreover, frequently carried out in ways other than those prescribed by law", wrote the Guarantor.
THE METHOD OF POSTING CONTESTED BY THE GUARANTOR
In fact, “Poste Italiane sometimes uses for convenience the deposit of the notice of storage of the registered letter in the mailbox even when it would have been possible to deliver it to the recipient”, according to the Authority's findings.
COMPLAINTS FROM CONSUMERS
"In this regard, there are many complaints from consumers who reported the failure to attempt delivery of registered mail, even when they were certain that they were present in their home (think for example of people forced home because they are disabled or for the health emergency during the lockdown) ”, reads the Antitrust provision.
THE EFFECTS OF POSSIBILITIES
According to the Guarantor, "the consequence of these behaviors, in relation to which Poste Italiane has not adopted the necessary control and corrective measures, causes an inadmissible burden on consumers forced to waste time and money in order to collect the registered mail not diligently delivered ".
OMISSIONS ON ADVERTISING
Not only that: the Authority has ascertained the existence of information omissions also in the advertising messages promoting the digital withdrawal service for registered mail: "It is not clarified that this service can only be used for digitally originated mailings", writes the Agcm.
DOSSIER JUSTICE
The Guarantor also draws a systemic consideration: "The behaviors described also cause serious damage to the justice system of the country due to delays due to incorrect notifications in carrying out the trials, especially criminal ones, with consequent prescription of numerous crimes".
THE CONCLUSION OF THE GUARANTOR
Conclusion: “Given the extreme gravity and frequency of the practice and the very considerable damage caused to consumers, the sanction was imposed to the maximum extent. However, the same is not deterrent in relation to the specific turnover generated by Poste Italiane in the year 2019 alone, equal to 3.492 billion euros. In this regard, the European Directive 2019/2161 has not yet been transposed into national law, which sets the maximum legal sanction to be imposed at 4% of annual turnover ".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/perche-lantitrust-manda-una-raccomandata-con-la-sanzione-massima-a-poste/ on Tue, 15 Sep 2020 14:45:32 +0000.