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EC opens investigation into possible subsidies to D.Post
BRUSSELS, Sept 14 (WorldACD) - The European Commission has opened a formal investigation against Germany to assess whether compensation received by Deutsche Post AG (DPAG) is compatible with EC Treaty state aid rules.
The investigation will focus on whether DPAG was overcompensated for carrying out its universal service obligation, in addition to the aid already found to be incompatible in a 2002 Commission decision.
In 2002, the Commission investigated the public financing of DPAG and found that DPAG used public funds – which were intended to compensate for universal service costs – to finance a rebate pricing policy in its door-to-door parcel business. The Commission ordered Germany to recover incompatible state aid of €572 million from DPAG.
Following the 2002 decision, private competitors have filed complaints alleging that DPAG had gained significantly higher financial benefits from the public compensation received than what it had had to repay as incompatible state aid. In addition they brought new allegations that DPAG had used the public service compensation to expand its commercial activities and to sell services too cheaply to its subsidiaries DHL and Postbank.
The Commission has recently opened similar investigations against France, UK, Italy and Poland concerning the financing of their postal operators.
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