In a recent ruling, the German state has found itself unable to scrutinize the Deutsche Post’s mail delivery times for several years due to a legal dispute with a market research company. The ruling, handed down by the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf, revealed that the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA), the supervisory authority, lost a case that could have significant implications for postal services in Germany.
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As a result of the court’s decision, BNetzA is currently barred from awarding contracts for a critical performance check involving 60,000 test letters annually. The agency must now initiate a new procurement process that is unlikely to be completed before 2027. Since these checks require a full calendar year for analysis, they may not commence until at least 2028.
This situation means that BNetzA is rendered incapable of fulfilling its legal responsibilities regarding postal delivery timelines from 2025 to 2027, where it would normally monitor the Deutsche Post’s compliance and impose fines for significant lapses.
Deutsche Post Claims Compliance
Currently, there are no indications of serious non-compliance. According to Deutsche Post, the service meets the mandated delivery times: 95% of letters should reach recipients within three working days. In 2025, Deutsche Post claimed that 97.4% were delivered on time. For four-day delivery, the requirement stipulates 99% compliance, of which the postal service reported a figure of 99.0% for 2025. BNetzA, however, does not consider these company statements relevant, as it relies on data from independent market researchers, which it cannot access at the moment.
The market research company that successfully contested its exclusion from the bidding process previously worked for Deutsche Post in other performance checks. Consequently, BNetzA deemed the firm as lacking independence, but the court found this reasoning disproportionate. The judges argued that potential conflicts of interest could be mitigated through information barriers.
In light of these developments, BNetzA stated that it would now “conceptualize a new tender in line with the procurement senate’s directives.” There is a pressing need for a Europe-wide bidding process to be re-established according to the legal requirements.
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Politicians are expressing concern about the ramifications of this legal battle. Sebastian Roloff, the economic policy spokesperson for the SPD parliamentary group, emphasized that a rapid new procurement process is crucial. “We need the data to verify compliance with legal regulations and, if necessary, take parliamentary action,” he stated.
As recently as November, Klaus Müller, the head of BNetzA, threatened Deutsche Post with a million-euro fine under the Federal Postal Act. This was prompted by an unprecedented number of complaints regarding misdelivered, damaged, or late mail. However, it was uncertain at the time who would provide the reliable data needed for such a severe sanction. Given that the agency is now unable to obtain these figures, any enforcement actions against Deutsche Post for delays may take several more years.
(nen)
