Guernsey Post Limited
A commercialised utility regulated by the Guernsey Office of Utility Regulation

1.0 Background
Guernsey Post is a commercial utility wholly owned by the States of Guernsey and regulated by the Guernsey Office of Utility Regulation (OUR). It is committed to continual improvement in service delivery and customer relations in its core business, namely the provision of a secure, reliable and efficient postal service.
Guernsey Post obtained its Licence from the OUR on 1st October 2001. Further details on the Postal Licence and legislation underpinning the relationship and activity of the OUR with Guernsey Post can be found at www.regutil.gg.

Key areas of the model are outlined below:
  • Universal Service Obligation
  • Reserved Postal Services
  • Customer Charter
  • Quality of Service


2.0 Universal Service Obligation
The States of Guernsey resolved to give the following Direction to the Director General of the OUR in accordance with section 3(1) of the Regulation of Utilities (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2001:

‘The following Universal Postal Service (USO) shall be provided by at least one Licensee throughout the Bailiwick of Guernsey at uniform and affordable prices, except in circumstances or geographical conditions that the Director General of Utility Regulation agrees are exceptional:

  • One collection from access points on six days each week;
  • One delivery of letter mail to the home or premises of every natural or legal person in the Bailiwick (or other appropriate installations if agreed by the Director General of Utility Regulation) on six days each week including all week days;
  • Collections for all postal items up to a weight of 20kgs;
  • Deliveries on a minimum of five working days for all postal items up to a weight of 20kgs;
  • Services for registered and insured mail.

In providing these services, the Licensee shall ensure that the density of access points and contact points shall take account of the needs of users.

“access points” shall include any post boxes or other facility provided by the Licensee for the purpose of receiving postal items for onward transmission in connection with the provision of this universal postal service.’


3.0 Reserved Postal Services
The Regulatory model in the Bailiwick requires that a legal monopoly be prescribed by the Director General to fund this USO.

In September 2001, the States of Guernsey issued Directions to the Director General regarding the scope of the USO (as detailed above) and directed that the reserved postal services be defined so as to ensure that the USO was met. In document OUR 01/17, the Director General described the background to an Order made in October 2001 designating certain postal services as ‘reserved postal services’.

The effect of the Order was to reserve the right to provide certain postal services to the first licensee in the postal sector in the Bailiwick, i.e. Guernsey Post Limited, to ensure that the USO could be met. The document also indicated that the Director General expected to carry out more in-depth analysis of the postal market in Guernsey with a view to determining whether this designation should be amended in the future.

The Director General may designate what services are defined as reserved postal services 1, but may only do so for two reasons:

  • if he considers it is necessary to ensure the provision of the USO in the Bailiwick 2, or
  • if it is necessary to comply with States Directions 3

Given the limited information available at that time on the Guernsey postal market, as well as having due regard to international practice, the reserved postal services were defined exclusively by value, as those postal services provided for a consideration of less than £1.35. A postal service being ‘the service of conveying postal packets from one place to another, the incidental services of receiving, collecting and delivering such packets and any other service which relates to such services. A “postal packet” means a letter, parcel, packet or other article capable of transmission by post.

The price limit was arrived at by multiplying the standard tariff for letters to the UK (27p in 2001) by five, along the lines of the EU approach 4. The use of the standard UK tariff reflected the fact that a significant amount of the Bailiwick’s mail is between the islands and the UK. It is understood that the Director General did not wish to include a weight limit in the designation of the reserved services until further consideration could be given to the profile of Bailiwick postal service, particularly those services that were provided on the basis of volume rather than weight (flower boxes). 5



1 Section 9(1) of the Post Office (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2001 
2 Section 9(2)(a) of the Post Office (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2001
3 Section 9(2)(b) of the Post Office (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2001
4 Directive 97/67/C of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 1997 on the common rules for the development of the internal market of Community postal services and the improvement of quality of service.
5 Guernsey Post replaced the flower box tariff with a cost related weight tariff in 2004 in light of the significant cost base changes brought about by the new commercial contract required by Royal Mail to bring Guernsey Post into line with the arrangements that it had with other international postal operators.


4.0 Customer Charter
Guernsey Post's Customer Charter makes a major commitment to the residents and businesses of the Islands against the background of its continuing drive to improve its service and to develop closer relationships with all its customers. The Charter sets out the standards that Guernsey Post’s customers can expect and explains how you can obtain information and what to do if standards are not met. Additionally it explains what services are available.

Guernsey Post is required through its Postal Licence (Condition 14.7 ,) to report to the OUR on the quality of its products and services against its Customer Charter. This report is published below every six months and released to the Bailiwick’s media.


5.0 Quality of Service
As the sole provider of standard letter post services in the Bailiwick, Guernsey Post operates under a Postal Licence granted by the Office of Utility Regulation. The licence includes specific conditions relating to quality of service targets, which are described as follows: -

QoS 1 – Focuses on end to end delivery times and reliability of the mail from the customers’ perspective with targets set using the J+n formula, (where J is the day of posting) measured using test mail. This measure is considered by Guernsey Post and the OUR to be the most significant and of greatest interest to the majority of Guernsey Post customers;

QoS 2 – Examines the efficiency of Guernsey Post in handling mail from the time that it comes within the company’s control to the time that it leaves the company’s control, with targets set using the D+n formula, measured using live mail. This measurement is considered important as it can be used to identify where any failures in quality of service are taking place within Guernsey Post’s own network.

QoS 3 – This is a category comprising key customer facing functions, which can be monitored using individual Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s).

Guernsey Post is required through its Postal Licence (Condition 14.7 ,) to report to the OUR on the quality of its products and services against published regulatory targets. This report is published every six months on this site and released to the Bailiwick’s media.
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