La liberalizzazione del settore postale: i nuovi ambiti oggettivi e soggettivi della Direttiva postale. La concorrenza tra gli operatori nel settore.

Abstract

The postal sector is changing: postal market has known, in three decades, a sort of Copernican revolution. Indeed, it has been opened to competition in a gradual and controlled way.
EU regulation has had a prominent role on the development of European postal markets in the past twenty years. Directive 97/67/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of December 15, 1997 established a regulatory framework for European postal services and was emended by Directive 2002/39/EC ( second Postal Directive) and Directive 2008/6/EC (third Postal Directive). In particular, the third Postal Directive is very important because it defines a timetable for the accomplishment of the internal market for postal services; it abolishes the reserved area for postal services and adds common rules about competition and universal service regulation.                 
In Italy, postal market liberalization has found full realization with the recent law n.124/2017 that abolishes the remaining reserved area reserved for historical incumbents concerning the notification of judicial documents. The Italian telecoms regulator, AGCOM, has adopted the regulation on authorization qualifications  for access to this new  market segment.
After a brief description of the European and Italian policy framework of postal service, this work examines the recent regulatory challenges resulting from technological and market developments; the loss of any privilege by the historical incumbent; the new definition of postal operator also including express service and the intricate competitive dynamics in certain market sectors.