When it involves transporting letters, Deutsche Post has much less time strain than anticipated. A authorized requirement has been in power for over a 12 months, in accordance with which the put up workplace should ship a minimum of 95 % of letters three working days after they’re posted; on the fourth working day it should be 99 %. But these Federal Network Agency can not monitor compliance with this obligation this 12 months and probably subsequent 12 months, as may be seen from an inner letter from the authorities.
Measures such because the imposition of a high-quality would due to this fact not be thought of, in accordance with the doc, which is addressed to the advisory board of the community company. The letter is accessible to the German Press Agency.
The state’s time strain on the put up workplace for its mail enterprise had eased considerably at the start of 2025 because of an modification to the regulation. This enabled the postal service to scale back prices. Now it seems that this authorized time strain is at the moment not solely weakened, however can also be a non-starter.
Legal dispute blocks state measurement mandate
The cause for the dearth of state management over the so-called letter supply instances is a dispute in courtroom. For a long time, the community company needed to depend on a market analysis firm that works for Deutsche Post to measure transit instances and sends round 300,000 letters per 12 months as a take a look at. This market researcher’s knowledge was not solely obtained by the put up workplace, but in addition by the Federal Network Agency.
In its evaluation of the state of affairs, the authority was depending on a service supplier paid by the put up workplace – which was offended by some critics. The modification to the regulation modified that: Since 2025, the Federal Network Agency has now not been allowed to make use of the information of the market researcher paid by the postal service with the intention to fulfill its authorized monitoring obligation. Instead, it ought to place its personal order with a service supplier.
But it wasn’t that simple. The market analysis firm, which has been working for the put up workplace for many years, additionally wished to participate within the corresponding tendering course of. But that wasn’t attainable: the community company did not permit firms that additionally labored for the postal service and have been due to this fact not impartial, in accordance with their understanding.
Netzagentur will not be allowed to award the contract in the meanwhile
The market analysis firm lodged a criticism towards this award criterion and the case ended up in courtroom. In July 2025, the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court imposed a “temporary award ban” – so long as the authorized dispute has not been determined, the Federal Network Agency will not be allowed to award the contract. As may be seen from the letter from the Federal Network Agency, a remaining choice by the courtroom has been delayed since then.
The delay is annoying as a result of the take a look at shipments of letters all the time must cowl all the calendar 12 months. Since 2026 has already begun, 2026 will probably be fully eradicated when it comes to monitoring the authorized necessities.
If the authorized dispute earlier than the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court have been to be delayed and the award ban additionally applies to the primary proceedings, “this would also jeopardize the start of measurement on January 1st, 2027 for the ongoing procurement procedure,” the community company now says. Then it may solely begin in 2028 and, if the worst involves the worst, the put up workplace may solely be fined in 2029 – in relation to measurements within the earlier 12 months.
How shortly does the put up workplace at the moment ship letters?
Although the impartial audit requested by the Federal Network Agency will not be going down, the measurements commissioned by the postal service itself are nonetheless in place. These checks are constructive for the Bonn-based logistics firm: A postal spokesman provides preliminary outcomes in accordance with which final 12 months 97 % of shipments arrived no later than the third working day after being posted and 99 % arrived on the fourth working day. This would imply that the authorized necessities could be met. However, these measurements play no position in fulfilling the state’s obligation.
The Post spokesman emphasizes that this market analysis is carried out in a TÜV-certified course of in accordance with a European commonplace. According to his understanding, the corporate paid by the put up workplace acts independently.
The variety of complaints is growing considerably
Even although the postal service’s measured values for letter supply could also be constructive, many voters’ view of the yellow big will not be all that constructive. In the primary three quarters of 2025, the Federal Network Agency obtained greater than 44,000 complaints about postal providers, the overwhelming majority of which have been directed towards the market chief DHL/Deutsche Post.
This wasn’t nearly broken packages, incorrectly delivered shipments and different defects, but in addition excessively lengthy ready instances for letters. Compared to the billions of letters and packages that the postal service transported throughout this era, the variety of complaints is negligible. But the truth that it’s considerably larger than earlier than must be one thing to consider: There have been round 40 % extra complaints than within the first three quarters of 2024 and round 70 % greater than within the first three quarters of 2023.
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https://www.zeit.de/news/2026-01/26/freibrief-fuer-die-post-staat-kann-pflicht-nicht-ueberpruefen