The Belgian State organized a tendering procedure with respect to the distribution of recognized newspapers and periodicals in Belgium, following which the service concessions were awarded to bpost on October 16, 2015 to provide the services from January 1, 2016 until December 31, 2020. In December 2019, the Belgian government decided to extend the service concessions until December 31, 2022. The European Commission approved the compensation granted to bpost relating to this extension of the service concessions on September 2, 2021.
In November 2022, the Belgian government decided to extend the service concessions until December 31, 2023, at the conditions that apply for 2022, as specified in the current concessions. The extension will be submitted to the European Commission for approval under State aid rules before December 31, 2022.
Under the terms of the extension, the concession can be succeeded by a new concession after 2023. However, the decision to launch a new tender procedure has not yet been taken by the Belgian State. If this decision leads to a new tender and the concession is not awarded to bpost, the current concession agreement provides for a six-month extension, until June 30, 2024, to ensure the transition between the service providers. |