Law No. 18-04 of 10 May 2018 defines the universal postal service as “the minimum provision of basic postal and postal financial services of specified quality, offered to the public on a permanent basis across the entire national territory, at affordable rates, in compliance with the principles of equality, continuity, and universality”.

Executive decree No. 18-246 of 09 October 2018 determines the content of the universal postal service and the universal electronic communications service, the tariffs applied to them and how they are financed.

The content of the universal postal service, as described in the Executive decree No. 18-246, covers the following activities:

• Letter post up to a weight of 2 kg, including books, catalogues and magazines;
• Registered and insured items;
• Packages up to 20 kg in weight;
• Telegrams;
• Mailings for the visually impaired;
• Payment of pensions and social mandates;
• Regular collection and delivery of mail in sparsely populated and/or hard-to-reach areas;
• The provision of services for people with special needs, by reserving special counters in postal establishments;
• Providing a postal presence in all conurbations.

The universal postal service must essentially contribute to:

• The long-term future of the postal business;
• Universal postal service;
• Continuity of the public postal service;
• The population’s access to quality postal and postal financial services at affordable prices;
• Improving administrative, financial and quality of service performance;
• Guaranteeing the security of deposited funds.

The method of financing the universal postal service:

• The universal postal service may get funding from the State, the amounts of which are set by finance law;
• Contributions from postal operators established as follows:
  • For postal operators, with the exception of the operator responsible for providing the universal postal service, the contribution is set at three per cent (3%) of their pre-tax turnover;
  • For operators subject to the simple postal declaration regime, the contribution is set at three per cent (3%) of gross annual accounting profit.