The liability of postal service providers is established by law based on the type of postal service contracted and not based on the real, financial, artistic or symbolic value of the goods sent, the National Authority for Administration and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) emphasizes, in a press release sent to AGERPRES on Wednesday.
"More and more users report situations in which such goods arrive damaged or are lost, and the compensation granted by postal service providers is often perceived as insufficient in relation to the value of the items sent. Users must bear in mind that the legislation applicable to postal services establishes the liability of providers based on the type of postal service contracted and not on the real, financial, artistic or symbolic value of the goods sent. Thus, in the event of damage, destruction or loss of a postal item containing valuable goods, the minimum compensation granted is that regulated by law and, in most situations, does not reflect the actual value of the goods sent. Given these limitations, ANCOM recommends that users take into account the characteristics of the goods they send and carefully analyze the available options," the press release states.
Thus, according to the situation, users can take into consideration to contract a postal service with a declared value or shipping goods through specialized companies, for example, in the transport of works of art or fragile or valuable goods.
Postal service suppliers indicate the list of forbidden goods to transport, under the general conditions of service supply, among these counting valuable goods. Usually, packages should not contain goods for which special transport conditions were established, such as legal, adminstrative or economic, as well as works of art, antiques, precious metals (gold, silver), precious stones, etc," ANCOM mentions.
ANCOM also specifies that in the event of a total or partial loss, deterioration, total or partial destruction, or theft, users should first adress the postal service provided, by formulating a complaint.
The prior complaint may be filed by the sender or by the recipient, within six months from the date of submission of the postal item, and the supplier must respond within three months from the moment the complaint is filed.
"If the provider does not respond to the prior complaint within the maximum legal term of 3 months from the date of its submission, the user may file a complaint with ANCOM. The complaint submitted to ANCOM must be accompanied by proof of completion of the prior complaint procedure. (...) the legislation in force does not confer on the institution the competence to establish contraventions or to apply sanctions for the loss, damage, destruction or theft of a postal item. Likewise, ANCOM does not have the legal competence to assess the circumstances of the damage, as well as to establish the damage or to oblige the postal service providers to pay the related compensation. If the postal service provider considers the complaint unfounded, only the court of law can assess to what extent the postal service provider can be held liable and can oblige it to pays the sender or, as the case may be, the recipient, the compensation for the damage caused as a result of the loss, damage, destruction or theft of the postal item," the press release reads.
According to the cited source, regarding the compensation of users, in the situation where the postal service provider refuses to assume responsibility and, consequently, to grant compensation, it is necessary for users to go to court, within the general term of one year from the submission of the postal item.
Data centralized by ANCOM reveals that, in 2024, in Romania, domestic parcel traffic reached 335 million, exceeding for the first time the correspondence traffic of 267 million items.
At the same time, investments in the provision of postal services exceeded 500 million RON, and the number of installed automated systems exceeded 8,200, up 42% compared to 2023.
Comentează