The Czech Telecommunications Office (CTU) has imposed fines totaling CZK 965,000 on Czech Post (ČP), primarily for instances of non-delivery. This follows a previous fine of CZK 542,000 for similar offenses the year before, as outlined in the CTU’s regular monitoring report. Czech Post maintains that these were isolated cases of misconduct by individual employees or workplaces, which have since been rectified.
Fifteen administrative proceedings were initiated due to the Post Office’s failure to fulfill its legal obligation of making at least one daily delivery to each natural or legal person. The CTU considers this failure to be the most serious misconduct by Czech Post, particularly as it has been observed repeatedly in certain locations. As a result, the CTU has intensified its inspection activities and discovered numerous irregularities in this area.
Czech Post spokesperson, Matyáš Vitík, asserts that these identified shortcomings affect only a negligible number of shipments in relation to the total volume of transported items. He points to the CTU’s monitoring report, which acknowledges that Czech Post fulfilled its legal obligations as stipulated in its postal license for 2022. Vitík also highlights a decrease in the overall number of complaints, with only approximately 0.05 percent of mail generating complaints. Moreover, Czech Post achieved a success rate of 93.03 percent in delivering priority mail on the day following its submission.
The regulator issued seven final decisions in cases where official notices with instructions were not properly detached from deposited mail and left at the delivery location, in violation of the law. Additional final decisions were made regarding breaches of the postal contract, such as failing to adhere to agreed delivery dates or delivering mail intended solely for the addressee to an unauthorized recipient.
Furthermore, Czech Post was fined by the CTU for not providing timely information regarding changes in the postal network related to temporary closures of establishments. In other proceedings under the Consumer Protection Act, the Post Office failed to ensure the presence of an employee responsible for handling complaints throughout its operating hours.
Czech Post is currently facing a decline in the volume of its core delivery services. For instance, the number of parcels weighing under two kilograms decreased by nearly ten percent year-on-year to 134 million, while the delivery of postal orders dropped by 17 percent to 16.8 million. This decline can be attributed to customers increasingly opting for electronic communications and services.
