La liberalización de los servicios postales

Postal services are of great importance not just from an economic viewpoint, as a key element for social cohesion, increasing competition between companies and the development of trade, but also from a political viewpoint. Affordable public access to these services has become not just a basic right but an integral provision of the welfare state. This article looks basically at the liberalisation of postal services in Spain within the framework of the liberalising policies of the European Union. A description and critical analysis of the Spanish postal system is given, and special attention is paid to the definition and regulation of the universal postal service, to those services which might be reserved as a monopoly to ensure the provision of that universal service, to those services which are liberalised and to access to postal networks. The article ends with a list of matters which have not been resolved by the Spanish regulations governing the liberalisation of postal services. .