ROYAL MAIL GROUP PLC SCHEME IL3/2003

[This note is not part of the Scheme]

N ote : The Scheme which follows this Note is made under Section 89 of the Postal Services Act 2000 and amends the Successor Postal Services Company Inland Letter Post Scheme 2001. The Scheme, which comes into force on 8th May 2003, changes prices of several products set out in Schedule 1.

ROYAL MAIL GROUP PLC INLAND LETTER POST (AMENDMENT No. 6) SCHEME 2003

Made 2nd May 2003

Coming into operation 8th May 2003

Royal Mail Group plc (a) by virtue of the powers conferred upon it by section 89 of the POSTAL SERVICES ACT 2000 and of all other powers enabling it in this behalf, hereby makes the following Scheme:

Commencement, citation and interpretation

1.	This Scheme shall come into operation on 8th May 2003 and may be cited as the Royal Mail Group plc Inland Letter Post (Amendment No. 6) Scheme 2003.
2.	This Scheme shall be read as one with the Successor Postal Services Company Inland Letter Post Scheme 2001 (b) (hereinafter called “the Scheme”) as amended by the Consignia plc Inland Letter Post Scheme (Amendment No. 1) Scheme 2001, the Consignia plc Inland Letter Post Scheme (Amendment No. 2) Scheme 2001, the Consignia plc Inland Letter Post Scheme (Amendment No. 3) Scheme 2001, the Consignia plc Inland Letter Post Scheme (Amendment No. 4) Scheme 2001 and the Consignia plc Inland Letter Post Scheme (Amendment No. 5) Scheme 2001.
3.	A reference in this Scheme to the Successor Postal Services Company shall be read as a reference to Royal Mail Group plc.

  Schedule I Postage Rates and Fees

4.	Paragraphs 3, 8, 18 and 20 of Schedule 1 of the Scheme shall be deleted and the following substituted.
3 Business Collection
Number or value of items	Fee
a	Single collection of fewer than 1,000 items or with a postage value of less than £200	£5.50
b	Single collection of 1,000 items or more or with a postage value of more than £200	£5.50
c	Regular Daily collection before 3pm (Monday to Friday) from a specific site if spending less than	£260 per annum
£15,000 on postage with Royal Mail per year at that site.
d	Regular daily collection after 3pm (Monday to Friday) from a specific site if spending less than £15,000	£460 per annum
postage with Royal Mail per year at that site.
e	Regular weekday or weekend collection from a specific site if spending £15,000 or more on postage with	Free
Royal Mail per year at that site.
f	Regular Saturday collection	£115 per annum
g	Regular Sunday collection	£115 per annum

8 First and Second Class Postage Rates

Weight up to and including	First Class	Second Class
60g	28p	20p
100g	42p	34p
150g	60p	46p
200g	75p	56p
250g	88p	69p
300g	£1.01	80p
350g	£1.15	91p
400g	£1.37	£1.10
450g	£1.56	£1.25
500g	£1.74	£1.42
600g	£2.10	£1.68
700g	£2.64	£1.92
750g	£2.83	£2.04*
800g	£3.06
900g	£3.36
1000g	£3.67**

* Items heavier than 750g cannot be sent Second Class

** For each additional 250g or part thereof there is an additional charge of 89p for First Class items.

9 Floor Fees

The fee is £46 per annum for each floor that Royal Mail has to travel up or down in addition to the number of floors it would normally travel up or down on collection and delivery.

The fee is waived if the customer spends more than £15,000 per year at that site.

11 PO Box

Box fee	Early & Late access	Delivery of letters	Diversion of letters to
PO Box
6 months	£43	+ £43	+£43	+ £43
12 months	£53	+ £53	+£53	+ £53
15 Recorded

The fee is 64p per letter in addition to the First and Second Class postage.

16 Redirection

Duration	To or from a United Kingdom	To or from a United Kingdom
business address per business name	residential address per name
1 month	£12.90	£6.45
3 months	£21.60	£14.05
6 months	£43.20	£21.60
12 months	£64.80	£32.40
18 Response Services
Service	Licence Fee	Postage	Handling Charge
Response Service	£64.80 per annum	Applicable First or	0.5p second delivery per letter
Second Class	1p first delivery option per letter
Bar-coded response	£64.80 per annum	Applicable First or	None
Second Class
Freepost Name	£154.00 per annum	35p per letter	None

The £64.80 licence fee listed above applies where the total number of licences held by a person does not exceed 10. Thereafter, each additional licence will carry a fee of £35.00.

20 Special Delivery

Weight of letter	Fee for maximum	Fee for maximum	Fee for maximum
compensation up	compensation up	compensation up
to £250	to £1,000	to £2,500
1-100g	£3.75	£4.20	£5.10
Over 100g - 500g	£4.05	£4.50	£5.40
Over 500g - 1kg	£5.20	£5.65	£6.55
Over 1kg - 2kg	£6.55	£7.00	£7.90
Over 2kg - 10kg	£18.50	£18.95	£19.85

Signed by Louise Anderson for and on behalf of Royal Mail Group plc.

Date: 2nd May, 2003.

(a) Royal Mail Group plc (a company registered in England and Wales under number 4138203) is a universal service provider as defined in section 4(3)(a) of the Postal Services Act 2000. Royal Mail Group plc is the successor postal services company referred to in article 37(1) of the Postal Service Act 2000. (Commencement No. 4 and Transitional and Savings Provisions) Order 2001 (2001/1148 (C.37)). It changed its name from Consignia plc on 4th November 2002.

(b) The Post Office Inland Letter Post Scheme 2000 was amended, renamed the Successor Postal Services Company Inland Letter Post Scheme 2001 and treated as made under section 89 of the Postal Services Act 2000 by the article 37 of the Postal Services Act 2000 (Commencement No. 4 and Transitional and Savings Provisions) Order 2001 (2001/1148 (C.37)).

(2201/30

Competition Appeal Tribunal

NOTICE OF APPLICATION UNDER SECTION 46 OF THE COMPETITION ACT 1998

CASE NO. 101511/1/03

Pursuant to rule 13 of the Competition Commission Appeal Tribunal Rules 2000 (“the Rules”), the Registrar gives notice of the receipt of an application, dated 17th April 2003, under section 46 of the Competition Act 1998 (“the Act”) by Littlewoods Limited, of Sir John Moores Building, 100 Old Hall Street, Liverpool, L70 1AB (“the applicant”) in respect of a decision (CP0480-01) taken by the Director General of Fair Trading (“the Director”) and notified to the applicant on 19th February 2003, (“the Decision”).

In the Decision the Director found that the applicant entered into price-fixing agreements and/or concerted practices with Hasbro UK Limited (‘Hasbro’) and Argos Limited that infringed section 2 (‘the Chapter I prohibition’) of the Act. The Director also found that there was a separate bilateral agreement between the applicant and Hasbro. The Director further found that the agreements and/or concerted practices in question sought to fix the price of certain Hasbro toys and games in the UK and that the agreements and/or concerted practices infringed the Chapter I prohibition between 1st March 2000 and some time between 15th May 2001 and 14th September 2001. For its infringement of the Chapter I prohibition of the Act the Director imposed a penalty of £5.37 million on the applicant.

The applicant seeks the following relief:

(1)	That the Decision be set aside;
(2)	Alternatively, that the penalty imposed upon the applicant be set aside or otherwise reduced;
(3)	That costs be awarded to the applicant.

In summary the principal grounds on which the applicant relies are that:

(1)	The Director erred in finding that the applicant was engaged in an agreement or concerted practice as described or at all. The applicant had no interest in catalogue retailing. At all material times the only company which was engaged in catalogue retailing was Littlewoods Retail Limited which is not the addressee of the Decision.
(2)	There is no or no sufficient evidence of an agreement or concerted practice as alleged or at all. The evidence relied upon by the Director is flimsy and insubstantial and does not bear upon the facts which in law, are needed to establish an agreement or concerted practice within the meaning of the Chapter I prohibition.
(3)	In any event the penalty imposed was unfair and disproportionate.

Any person who considers that he has sufficient interest in the outcome of the proceedings may make a request for permission to intervene in the proceedings, in accordance with rule 14 of the Rules.

A request for permission to intervene should be sent to the Registrar, The Competition Appeal Tribunal, New Court, 48 Carey Street, London WC2A 3BZ, so that it is received within one month of the publication of this notice.

Further details concerning the procedures of the Competition Appeal Tribunal can be found on its website at www.catribunal.org.uk. Alternatively the Tribunal Registry can be contacted by post at the above address or by telephone (020 7271 0395) or fax (020 7271 0281). Please quote the case number mentioned above in all communications.

Charles Dhanowa, Registrar.

Dated: 2nd May, 2003.