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Certified letter of 5 million euros. This is the amount of the fine that the Competition Authority imposed on Poste Italiane for managing the certified mail service. The maximum possible. Of course, for a company like Poste Italiane, which in 2019 had a turnover of 3,492 million euros, little more than a flat tire, but the clear indication: there is something wrong with the management of the mail delivery service. Among the reasons for the Defense of Competition, it is noted that the decision is based on having adopted an unfair commercial practice in violation of the Consumer Code, consisting of the misleading promotion of characteristics of the certified delivery service and the Withdrawal service. Digital of certified letters. In fact, for the Guarantor of Competition and the Market, the behavior of Poste Italiane causes harm not only to consumers, but also to the country’s justice system.
The (slow) delivery of certified mail
In particular, the Authority found that the attempted delivery of certified letters is not always carried out at the time and with the certainty emphasized in the advertising messages, being, moreover, frequently carried out with methods other than those prescribed by law. 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 addressee. In this regard, there are many complaints from consumers who reported not attempting to deliver certified mail, even when they were certain that they were present at their home (let’s think, for example, of people forced to stay home due to disability or emergency health during emergency shutdown).
Consumers forced to waste time and money
The consequence of these behaviors in relation to which Poste Italiane has not adopted the necessary control and corrective measures – reports the Antitrust in a note – causes an unacceptable burden for consumers forced to waste time and money to withdraw. certified letters not delivered diligently. The Authority also verified the existence of information omissions even in the advertising messages that promote the digital withdrawal service for certified mail, since it is not clarified that this service can only be used for shipments of digital origin.
Prescription of infractions and late registered letters
The behaviors described also cause serious damage to the country’s justice system due to delays due to incorrect notifications in the termination of trials, especially criminal ones, with the consequent prescription of numerous crimes, as stated repeatedly in the Annual Reports on the state of justice cited in the provision. Given the extreme severity and frequency of the practice and the very considerable harm caused to consumers, the penalty was imposed to the maximum.
Consumer associations
Great news. A victory for consumers, who for years have reported inefficiencies and inconveniences for certified mail delivery. A service that has always been getting worse in a systematic and progressive way over the years. This is the comment of Massimiliano Dona, President ofNational Union of Consumers, to the Antitrust sanction of 5 million euros to Poste Italiane for unfair commercial practice. Unfortunately – Dona continues – as Antitrust itself admits, a partial victory due to the legislator. We have always asked that the maximum limit of the fines of all the Authorities be eliminated and that the sanctions are always, by law, higher than the illicit profit, otherwise, they will never have any dissuasive effect. But our repeated appeal, also presented in the form of observations on competition law in the House and Senate, was not heard. We hope that the cry of Antitrust is now heard.
