Courier industry nags regulator over illegal operators

Courier industry operators have asked the Postal and Courier Services Regulatory Commission to up its game and rid the system of faceless operators, who are taking business away from legitimate operators.

"Our very survival is at stake; these people [illegal operators] are far more than us," a representative of one of the registered courier companies said during a consultative meeting organised by the commission to listen to concerns of operators.

"There are a lot of illegal operators in the system. There is a lot more that can be done to deal with the issue," a representative of another company said. "There are also companies that utilise the illegal operators. It is also important to bring to the attention of corporate institutions that if you utilise the services of illegal operators it is going to go against you."

Responding to the concerns, Kofi Nyantekyi, Chairman of the commission said: "The issue of illegal operators is as much a challenge to us as it is for you," assuring registered operators that the police will be brought in to clamp down on unlicensed operators.

Executive Secretary of the commission, Isaac Annan Riverson, said the police administration has agreed to station some officers at the commission for the purposes of swoop operations to flush out the illegal operators.

He also announced that the commission is in the process of coming out with stickers which registered operators could have on their delivery vans, motorbikes and other means by which they could be distinguished from illegal operators.

"In respect of the illegal operators, we assure you that we are doing our best. We have our monitoring department but we cannot be everywhere…For us to be able to do a good job we need the support of the registered operators," Mr Annan Riverson said, asking operators to have a functional association in place.

There are about a hundred registered companies with the commission, which is mandated by the Postal and Courier Services Regulatory Commission Act - 2003 (Act 649) to issue licences and ensure sanity in the industry.

The commission and industry operators admit, however, that there are a lot of operators in the system who have not registered with the commission and so do not pay the annual licensing fee, whilst competing with registered businesses for jobs.

Section 13 of Act 649 states that "the Commission may, subject to conditions that it may determine, grant a licence to an applicant to provide a postal or courier service other than a reserved postal service.

It goes on to say that a licence shall state the type of services to be provided; the period of validity of the licence; and the payment to the Commission of a fee for the grant of the licence; and of periodic payments during the existence of the licence or both.

A licence for the operators is issued for an initial period of five years, subject to annual renewal, after which the licence is extended for another five years.

Aside non-registered operators, the commission is also worried over the shenanigans of operators who do not renew their registration but "go under the radar" to be doing business outside the law.

The Executive Secretary indicated that by the end of the year, licences of such operators will be revoked, to safeguard the interest of those who operate by the law.