Antitrust fine of 5 million to Poste: “Failure to deliver certified letters harms consumers and the judicial system. Inopportune notifications lead to prescription of crimes”

In ads Italian mail use Claim like “Always, the recommended is synonymous with certainty“But the authority Antitrust, which also watches over unfair business practices, verified that this promotion was “misleading“Because, as indicated in the provision with which it has fined the group 5 million euros (The sanction as high as possible for these cases), Post “sometimes use the tankStock Notice of the registered letter in mailbox even when it would have been possible to deliver it to the addressee. “And that” sometimes “, in the months that shows, corresponded in some areas to more than 40% of cases. A modus operandi that has caused not only “very remarkable harm to consumers“But also, in some cases, the”prescription of crimes” why “incorrect me timely“Execution of notifications of court documents.

“Full awareness of the gravity of the phenomenon” – Besides, Poste had “full awareness of gravity and entity of the phenomenon ”, which, as many show complaints – also continued during the emergency shutdown. When the citizens were locked in the house but despite this they continued to find notices of values of missives that the postmen had never tried to deliver into their hands. The same has happened to people who are “homebound as carriers of DisadvantageHowever, “Poste limited himself to sending mere letters from remember to the heads of the different offices, with an invitation to observe the regularity of the procedures ”. Ultimately, “the measures adopted by those responsible consisted (…) of mere sensitization that operators pay “maximum attention during the provision of the service” “.

“Poste Italiane does not find the normal degree of competence and attention that can be reasonably expected, taking into account the quality of the professional and the characteristics of the activity carried out,” says the Competition Authority. But, given this behavior, the authority admits that the sanction is insufficient to be able to represent a “deterrent” since the group’s turnover was 3,492 million euros last year. Lack of “not yet incorporated into national legislation European Directive 2019/2161 that establishes the maximum legal limit of the sanction that can be imposed 4% of the income annual”.

“More than 40% of certified letters are not delivered in a sample of offices” – The commercials were full of elaborate phrases describing thereliability of the service: “Your most important communications, those make the difference In your life, you need to know where I am When will they arrive, who will receive them ”, is one of the cited examples. But, when justifying the sanction, the Authority reveals that the percentage of “without hesitation“- or registered letters not collected when the postman passed by – registered in the months of January, July, August, September and October 2019 at the Sant’Angelo Lodigiano post offices, Degree, Pordenone, Vimercate and in many branches of Genoa. Just “by way of example”, specify the layout, which outlines how a report acquired in the documents “shows the receipt by Poste, in the period between January 2018 and October 2019, of approximately 4,300 complaints in relation to: stock notification without delivery attempt, incorrect behavior of the postman, irregular stock notice failure / compilation “.

“Information on digital withdrawal limits omitted or written in lowercase” – The other Antitrust complaint refers to the Digital withdrawal, advertised as “the Italian postal service to collect certified mail online”. In this case, one of the mottos was: “Would you ever say that I am picking up a registered letter? With digital withdrawal you can collect your registered mail conveniently online, wherever you are whenever you want even from sofa“. Phrases that” lead consumers to believe that they can collect any type of registered letter addressed to them online without limitations. “But this is not true, explains Antitrust: the service” allows the recipient user subscriber of the service in question to collect letters registered online as long as the the sender has activated the corresponding functionality. Furthermore, as is clear from the contractual documentation, the service is not available for mailings of non-electronic origin “, that is, if the content is written by hand. The advertisements distributed on the internet and facebook, however,” do not contain information about the existence of such limitations, while “Direct Mailing 71, flyers distributed by postmen at homes and post offices, A5 posters and receipts, inform the limitations in notes placed at the bottom of the page or at the back of brochures, with lowercase or small characters ”.