3PL/Logistics

Deutsche Post DHL has announced it will file an appeal with the European Court of Justice against the state aid ruling made by the European Commission and has aligned this decision with the German federal government.

In 2007, the European Commission initiated a formal investigation against the Federal Republic of Germany concerning alleged unlawful state aid to Deutsche Post AG.

During the investigation, the European Commission addressed matters it had examined earlier during similar state aid proceedings from the year 2002 which were successfully appealed against by Deutsche Post in September 2010.

"The EU Commission's ruling on a repayment is incomprehensible and has no basis in fact," said Frank Appel, CEO of Deutsche Post DHL. "It stands in clear contradiction to an earlier EU decision and the outcomes of similar proceedings. If you examine the state aid rulings on other European postal service providers, it becomes quite clear that here the Commission has applied double standards. We are absolutely confident that the decision will have no validity in court and are proceeding on the assumption that the amount plus interest will be repaid."

The current proceedings focused on state grants, such as financial equalisation and the funding of civil servant pensions at Deutsche Post. In its decision, the Commission found no case of incompatible state aid with respect to financial equalisation.

When the Commission examined the funding of civil servant pensions, it did however reach the conclusion that the pension expenses of Deutsche Post were, in part, incorrectly assessed in the case of price approvals by the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) and thus in some cases involved incompatible state aid. The EU Commission, according to its current ruling, demands that Deutsche Post repay this state aid to the Federal Republic of Germany in the amount of €500m-€1bn.

However, the ruling is now subject to an appeal.

Content provided in partnership with Transport Intelligence.