Bodies established by the local postal coverage agreement create space for regional dialogue between La Poste and local authorities.
The National Postal Presence Observatory (ONPP) works on the national level, while Departmental Commissions on Local Postal Presence (CDPPTs) intervene on the departmental level.
The Postal Coverage Observatory has four main missions :
Monitor the way the compensation fund is managed
Support the work of the CDPPTs
Ensure that La Poste's commitments are upheld in terms of developing its network, especially in the context of public or private partnerships
Ensure that a system is set up to inform users of summer closures and changes to opening hours
To provide better service, La Poste is committed to better informing users of the various changes to opening hours. During summer closures, which may not last longer than three weeks, a description of La Poste’s local service offerings must be communicated to the mayor. Throughout the duration of the contact, the ONPP, in collaboration with the CDPPTs, must ensure that all of these principles are properly applied.
The Observatory shall be made up of 28 members :
Six members appointed by the French government, which is a signatory of this agreement
Six members appointed by the AMF, which is a signatory of this agreement
Six members appointed by La Poste, which is a signatory of this agreement
Six members appointed by the CSNP (Higher Commission for Digital and Postal Services)
Two members appointed by the Conference of Regions from among regional councillor members of the CDPPTs
Two members appointed by the ADF (Assembly of French Departments) from among departmental councillors who are members of the CDPPTs
Members shall be appointed for the duration of the agreement. Former chairs of the Observatory shall be entitled to sit on the Observatory for the duration of this agreement.
The chair of the Observatory shall be elected from the elected members who have been appointed by the CSNP. The two vice-chairs shall be appointed from the representatives of the AMF in the Observatory.
The board of the Observatory shall be composed of the chair and two vice-chairs. A representative of the French government delegation and a representative of the La Poste delegation shall attend the board’s meetings.
The general secretariat duties of the Observatory shall be performed by La Poste, which shall appoint for this purpose a person to be responsible for facilitating the Observatory and regularly organising meetings of the Observatory and its board.
The CDPPTs are key bodies for dialogue with elected officials, and are informed by La Poste about all projects. They have three major missions at the department level :
Advise on La Poste projects (modernisation of the network, development of public outlets, etc.)
Help identify communities’ needs,
Negotiate departments’ priorities for use of the compensation fund
The CDPPTs shall have autonomy in managing the compensation fund. Allocation of all the departmental resources shall be conducted within the CDPPTs, upon proposal made by the La Poste representative and in the presence of a representative of the French government. The CDPPTs may also conduct experiments, particularly to test new solutions for pooling services.
Four municipal councillorS
Two departmental councillors
Two regional councillors
A representative of the French government shall attend meetings. General secretariat services shall be performed by a representative of La Poste.
Within the framework of the rules defined by this agreement, the Observatory shall specify the methods for practical deployment of the compensation fund, and shall monitor the implementation of the provisions of this agreement.
Implement and monitor methods for using the compensation fund resources
Monitor and assess work of the CDPPTs
Alert co-signatories in the event actions taken do not comply with the provisions of this agreement
inspect annual balance sheets related to management of the fund and postal coverage
Monitor the development of the postal network, particularly partnerships, public service centres hosted in post offices, and postman-counter clerk offices
Centralise and monitor various experiments conducted by the CDPPTs
Approve agreement models with respect to new ways to pool services, and, in particular, related financial returns
Formalise advice and recommendations in the event of referral by the CDPPTs
Broader duties of the CDPPTs :
Propose the distribution of the entire departmental allocation
Fund compulsory expenses as a priority
Especially those related to the functioning of public outlets
Those within the scope of functioning and regional planning
Those related to digital accessibility in these public outlets
Ensure equal treatment across all scopes of regional planning for the duration of the agreement
Ensure that resources allocated to digital accessibility, as well as all equipment and related expenses combined, assessed for the duration of the agreement, represent at least 15% of overall departmental allocations
Conduct experiments, especially to test new solutions for pooling services, within a limit of 5% of their departmental allocation. In this capacity, they shall prepare an annual experimentation report to be given to the Observatory
Play an institutional monitoring role, which will allow them to take stock of changes in the region
Strengthen communication surrounding initiatives they implement with the help of the compensation fund, within a limit of 0.5% of their departmental allocation”.