New rules proposed for delivery services in South Africa — including refunds for unexplained delays

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) is set to amend regulations governing the handling and sending of mail in the country.

Following submissions from stakeholders,  Icasa has gazetted findings that South Africa’s mail conveyance regulations were inefficient in addressing the industry’s challenges and required review.

“The challenges highlighted in the submissions point to the fact that, amongst other things, there is a need to provide for enhanced consumer protection measures in the form of relief to consumers in cases where conveyors fail to comply with regulations,” Icasa said.

“The regulations also fall short in terms of specifying recourse in case of loss, theft, fraud, damages of mail including notification to sender in cases of delay.”

In summary, Icasa said the regulations fell short in the following ways:

• There is no adequate protection for consumers against loss and damage of goods.
• Insurance should not be compulsory but should be available should consumers want it.
• There is no provision for personnel security when handling prohibited and dangerous goods.
• There are no provisions that deal with disaster management.
• There are no provisions for rebate payable to the sender where there has been a delay in the delivery of an item/article without a notification for such delay.
• There are no provisions that incorporate technological developments such as a digital register and publishing of all necessary information online.

As it stands, private individuals or businesses can operate a licenced unreserved postal or courier service, which can deliver certain types of mail.

However, being the only reserved postal services licence, the South African Post Office (Sapo) has the sole legal right to deliver addressed letters or items weighing one kilogram or less.

In addition, it is the only service provider allowed to provide roadside collection and address boxes.

However, Sapo’s dismal service levels in the past few years have led many consumers and businesses to turn to private courier companies to send packages.

The state-owned entity has developed an infamous reputation for lost packages and substantial delays, with some deliveries only arriving months or even years after they shipped.

The Post Office’s dire financial situation has also forced the closure of several branches in recent years for failing to pay bills.

It also failed to maintain employees’ medical aid and pension fund payments.

Icasa said it would review the regulations to cater for changes in the postal services market to reflect the growth and development of the postal services operations and to recognise the role played by e-commerce services, which have shifted the market.

“The Authority will further take into consideration the findings on issues consulted upon in the discussion document, which in the main highlight the lack of effective recourse to consumers pertaining to the handling and delivery of mail,” Icasa said.

Among the revisions Icasa is currently considering for the regulations are the following:

• Remedies for offences related to loss, damages to and delay of mail, are to be provided by conveyors. Required remedies may include developing and maintaining a compensation policy which addresses offences related to the collection, handling, and delivery of mail. Conveyors could also be required to furnish the compensation policy with consumers and Icasa upon request.
• Reinforce the current regulations on mail security and strengthen the measures that operators must follow. These include the safety of physical infrastructure where mail is kept, minimum security standards that extend to the personnel handling mail and mail processing operations, and the implementation of a track and trace system for all mail items except letters. The Authority will do so by incorporating relevant Universal Postal Union (UPU) guidelines and standards that are not in the Regulations.
• Continuing to prescribe the list of prohibited and dangerous goods and requiring conveyors to keep an updated record of dangerous and prohibited goods found in their postal network in line with South African laws and international standards. Records must be made available to Icasa upon request.
• Implementation of UPU and Communications Regulators’ Association of Southern Africa guidelines on cybersecurity and requiring mail conveyors to ensure that they have minimum standards of addressing cyber security crimes that include how customers’ data is protected in line with National Laws.
• A broader scale of penalties that are sufficient to serve as a deterrent to non-compliance with regulations. Icasa will assign relevant fines to new regulatory provisions.