On 29 June 2017, the Luxembourg Institute for Regulation (ILR) will celebrate its 20th anniversary; as part of the anniversary the ILR has reflected on the liberalisation of the postal market.
The anniversary is also an opportunity to take stock of the different missions of the ILR. For almost a week, the ILR will present a particular sector each day.
Today, the ILR's postal service, whose missions began in 2000, were expanded in 2012 as part of the liberalisation of the postal market. For a long time, however, it remained under church or state control, and it was in 1842 that the postal services were officially passed under the monopoly of the Post Office of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, now the Post Office and telecommunications.
This monopoly partially ended in 2000 but the postal services were not fully liberalised until 2012.
The ILR as an independent regulatory authority has played an important role in the liberalisation of the postal market. One of the main missions of the ILR in the postal context is to ensure the maintenance of a quality universal postal service (UPS). In this context, it monitors the maintenance of the UPS and the fulfilment of the obligations imposed on the UPS provider. Every year, the ILR publishes a report on the quality of this service.
