Postal services and modern information and communication technologies. TAB-Fokus

The letter mail volume has been declining globally for some years, in part due to the increased use of electronic communication means. In Germany, the number of letters could decrease by up to 29% between 2010 and 2020. This poses the policy-relevant question of whether the universal postal service, which guarantees a postal service of the same quality for all citizens throughout the whole territory, can be maintained at the current quality level. There are, on the one hand, options for policy action within the existing European framework legislation; on the other hand, completely new regulatory models, which address physical, electronic and hybrid communication systems in an integrated way, also need to be discussed.