German regulator blocked from monitoring Deutsche Post delivery times by court ruling

Germany's Federal Network Agency faces a significant setback in its oversight of Deutsche Post, as a court ruling prevents it from monitoring the speed of letter deliveries for several years. The agency lost a final appeal at the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf against a market research firm.

This legal defeat halts a planned annual review involving 60,000 test letters. Consequently, the agency cannot initiate a new tender process for this monitoring until 2027 at the earliest, with actual checks potentially starting in 2028. This effectively means the agency will be unable to fulfill its statutory duty to track letter delivery times and impose penalties for significant delays between 2025 and 2027.

Deutsche Post claims it adheres to the legally mandated delivery times. The company reported that in 2025, 97.4% of letters posted today arrived within three working days, exceeding the 95% requirement. Similarly, 99.0% met the four-day deadline, surpassing the 99% target. However, these self-reported figures hold no weight with the Federal Network Agency, which requires independent data from a contracted market researcher.

The core of the dispute lies in the agency's exclusion of the market research firm from the bidding process due to potential conflicts of interest, as the firm also conducts other delivery time checks for Deutsche Post. The court deemed this exclusion disproportionate, suggesting that information barriers could mitigate any potential conflict. The agency now must restart the entire European tendering process.

Lawmakers have expressed regret over the ruling's consequences. Sebastian Roloff, economic policy spokesperson for the SPD parliamentary group, emphasized the urgent need for a new tender to obtain the necessary data for oversight and potential legislative adjustments. The delay raises concerns about maintaining service standards in the postal sector.

“

It needs a new tender process as quickly as possible. We need the data to verify compliance with the legal requirements and, if necessary, to make adjustments in parliament.