BIEK has been a voice for the KEP industry for 40 years

Forty years ago today, the Federal Association of Parcel and Express Logistics e. V. (BIEK) – then under the name “Federal Association of International Courier Services” – was founded in Frankfurt a. M. On behalf of and in collaboration with its member companies, the association has been consolidating the interests of the courier, express, and parcel industry (KEP) towards politics and the public for 40 years, continuously enhancing its positive image.

(Berlin) The BIEK is the thematic and information hub of one of the most dynamic and efficient industries in Germany and a solution-oriented partner for its stakeholders. On this basis, the association actively contributes to shaping the economic and social framework conditions for the growth of the industry in Germany.

Why was BIEK founded?

As the transport of goods in international traffic increased and became faster, the transport of documents lagged further behind. It happened that goods transported internationally arrived at their destination without the accompanying documents, which were sent by post. As a result, many carriers began to hand over documents directly to the aircraft crew with the request to deliver them to a representative of the recipient at the destination. The first courier companies specializing in international document transport began to form.

Such a document shipment reached the then Ministry of Posts, which filed a criminal complaint for violating the then postal monopoly. The affected companies quickly realized that they could only defend themselves against this seemingly arbitrary hindrance to modern business transactions by joining forces and founded the BIEK on March 23, 1982. Shortly thereafter, the association was able to report its first success: in 1984, courier transport was defined by the Ministry of Posts as a legal exception to the postal monopoly.

Abolition of Postal Monopolies

But that was only the first step. The further development of fast goods transport, especially for small shipments, led to ever new conflicts with the outdated postal law. Typical cases that repeatedly led to conflicts with the then still state-run postal service involved written documents that were attached to a shipment of goods. The then Ministry of Posts considered such accompanying papers as disguised letters, as long as they did not solely refer to shipment coordinates for the goods. Due to the accelerated transport of goods and the growing demand for fast delivery, there was an increasing need to speed up written communication as well.

The postal letter service was a monopoly and represented the most significant source of revenue for the then postal service. The postal business with parcels was still insignificant at that time. Therefore, the operational processes of the postal service had to conform to the long-standing regulations for letter services and follow its outdated structures. As a result, the quality of the postal letter service, as well as that of its parcel service, continued to decline.

For this reason, there was an early effort from the private sector to bureaucratize letter and parcel services and to abolish the letter monopoly enshrined in postal law. Meanwhile, the BIEK had significantly contributed to the establishment of the powerful organization “International Express Carriers Conference” (IECC) at the European and global level, which aimed to free the transport of letters and parcels from the globally applicable constraints of national monopolies. Together with the IECC, the BIEK succeeded in persuading the European Commission to review the compatibility of national postal monopolies with European competition law and the fundamental freedoms of contracts. The associations in the IECC, including the BIEK, played a significant role in the establishment of an “EU Green Paper on Postal Services” in 1992.

European Postal Directive

After fierce resistance from European postal authorities, the European Postal Directive was finally adopted in 1997, which resulted in a gradual restriction and abolition of monopolies. The Postal Directive of 1997, after its implementation into national law, finally provided a legally binding basis for the opening of national monopolies for letter and parcel services and created a competition-neutral basis for all parcel and letter services. The companies in the KEP industry, which had been battered by various harassment from the then state postal service and authorities, finally had a solid legal foundation. It marked the beginning of a surge in the development of KEP services.

At the same time, mail order developed to unprecedented size and speed. The fast and cost-effective handling of small shipments was a prerequisite for acceptance by consumers. Increasing internationalization and interconnection of trade, along with brilliant business ideas such as online commerce, met dynamically developing courier, express, and parcel services – with unprecedented synergies and mutual impulses that continue to this day.

Many successes, still much to do

Despite numerous successes, the BIEK still has a lot to do today. There remains a competitive imbalance in the parcel market. Deutsche Post can refinance its costs in the highly competitive parcel market through the state-regulated letter postage, which is not possible for its competitors. Through excessive letter postage, it obtains an additional profit margin that it can invest in the parcel sector without having to earn these investments through parcel prices. The opportunity for a clean separation between the regulated letter sector and the competitive parcel market has so far been missed by politics. The BIEK is therefore eagerly awaiting the major postal law reform agreed upon in the coalition agreement in the current legislative period.

The range of topics at BIEK (since 1991 “Federal Association of International Express and Courier Services” and since 2014 “Federal Association of Parcel and Express Logistics”) has also expanded enormously in recent years. “We are much more than just an association that cares about fair competition in the parcel market,” says Marten Bosselmann, Chairman of the BIEK. “This area still has high priority, but topics such as sustainable and efficient urban logistics, good and fair working conditions, digitalization processes, low-emission and emission-free delivery concepts, and much more are on our agenda every day.

The parcel industry is in constant change

The courier, express, and parcel industry is in a constant, rapid change, and we support companies in successfully navigating this change. We stand by companies as a voice and shield when they deliver 15 million shipments daily to nine million commercial and private recipients – and hopefully for at least the next 40 years.

Photo: © BIEK