CAPEC Welcomes AGCNCO Report
30 October 2024
CAPEC Welcomes AGCNCO Report
The Australian Government Competitive Neutrality Complaints Office’s (AGCNCO), which is part of the Productivity Commission, has found that there are plausible grounds to believe that Australia Post operates with competitive advantages and that Australia Post has historically been unaware of its competitive neutrality obligations.
Further, the AGCNCO found that CAPEC’s assertion that regulatory asymmetries exist because of Australia Post’s government ownership, is soundly based.
In February 2022, CAPEC lodged a complaint to AGCNCO against Australian Post. In the complaint, CAPEC submitted that Australia Post is not complying with the Federal Government’s competitive neutrality regime, and because of that has an unfair competitive advantage over the express carriers.
CAPEC’s submission identified a number of areas of concern, including:
- Australia Post is able to negate some reporting and regulatory obligations by channelling smaller parcels[1] through its letter stream. This option is not available to the express carriers.
- Australia Post has much less onerous parcel reporting and declaration obligations, relative to those that apply to the express carriers.
- Australia Post is exempt from an obligation to file export declarations for smaller parcels, while the express carriers are not.
- There is an infringement regime for providing incorrect or misleading reporting information that does not apply to Australia Post.
The report released today supports CAPEC’s long-held views that Australia Post operates with significant competitive advantage relative to the express carriers.
Specifically, the AGCNCO report finds that:
- There are “plausible grounds to believe the regulatory burden facing [CAPEC’s] members is excessive in relation to that faced by Australia Post, and changes to the regulatory regime it faces might be warranted.”
- That “the premise underlying CAPEC’s complaint — that various regulatory asymmetries are the result of government ownership — is soundly based.”
- That “CAPEC’s examples of asymmetries affecting parcel traffic over Australia’s borders … provide plausible grounds to believe competitive neutrality arrangements are not being followed or potentially should be implemented.”
In its report, AGCNCO makes a number of recommendations including that the Treasurer call a public inquiry into CAPEC’s complaint against Australia Post.
CAPEC strongly supports this recommendation and urges the Federal Government to commence this inquiry as soon as possible and in this term of Government.
CAPEC calls on the Government to act to level the playing field for international parcel delivery, which will lead to a more efficient supply chain and ultimately benefit consumers.
Comments attributed to Stephen Stroner, CAPEC Chairman and Managing Director of UPS Australia:
“This report has been a long time coming, and we thank the AGCNCO for the diligent investigation that it has undertaken.”
“The release of AGCNCO’s report today validates our view that there needs to be a level playing field for all operators in the international parcel delivery sector.”
“CAPEC have always believed that services related to the import of like services imported into Australia should be subject to the same regulatory oversight, regardless of who delivers them. AGCNCO has now validated this position.”
“Levelling the playing field will facilitate a more competitive market, and drive costs down for consumers.”
“We recognise that the Federal Government is in the process of undertaking a review of competition policy settings across the country. We support the Government’s focus on this area, and we encourage the Government to extend its review to the international parcel delivery sector.”
“As per recommendation 4.1 , we believe the Government should conduct an inquiry into the parcel traffic stream to identify and remedy any regulatory asymmetries between Australia Post and the express carriers.”
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[1] Weighing less than 2kg, and having a combined length, width and depth of less than 900mm.
