PostNL still has to pay a fine of 2 million euros, the Rotterdam court ruled. The company hadn’t delivered enough mail on time in 2019, but said that was the result of its acquisition of industry peer Sandd that year.
The judge believes that the acquisition was a “commercial choice” by PostNL and that the company “put itself in the situation”.
PostNL was fined earlier this year by the Dutch Consumers and Markets Authority (ACM). The watchdog said that PostNL was not sufficiently prepared for any problems at Sandd and that mail delivery had been under pressure for some time.
In the year of the takeover, PostNL ultimately delivered 94.34% of the mail to the letterbox on the next delivery day. According to the rules, it should be 95%.
The court ruling can still be appealed to the Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal (CBb). The postal company wants to study the ruling before determining whether such an appeal will be filed.
