Acquisition of Jet Services by TNT Post Group

The core of the French company Jet Services’ activities is the provision of express delivery services in France, in the business-to-business delivery of parcels (including documents). Jet Services also has a presence in Germany, the Benelux countries, the UK and Hungary.
The core activities of TPG (a result of the merger between the Dutch Post KPN and the TNT Express Group) are the provision of mail, express and logistics services world-wide.

The sector affected by the operation comprises express parcel and document delivery, standard expedited parcel delivery, express freight delivery and logistics. All of these services are mainly of a business-to-business nature, and have both a national and an international dimension

As in the Deutsche Post/Securicor decision, the Commission proceeded on the basis that the relevant geographical market was a national one, but without finding it relevant to reach a fedinite conclusion.

The Commission concluded that both Jet Services and TPG offer a broad range of services, all of which have distinct features as to time guarantee and other value-added services. The Commission acknowledged that while it may sometimes be difficult to classify the individual services with precision, the transferred business focuses principally on express parcel services.

As the Commission considers that there may be distinct product markets for the domestic and for the international express delivery of parcels (and documents) and freight, as well as for logistics, and that these would be more national than European, the international express delivery of parcels (and documents) in France and Germany would be affected.

Concerning international express delivery of parcels (and documents) the level of combined market shares (and the small increments) which result from the operation are not sufficiently large to cause the creation or strengthening of a dominant position.

Concerning international express delivery of freight, the previous structure of competition has not been modified by the operation since Jet Services does not provide this type of service, except in Germany where it only has a very small market share.

There is no affected market with regard to domestic express delivery because there is no Member State in which both parties have a noticeable market presence.

The Commission stated that the possibility the parties now have of offering a complete range of services to business customers does not appear to provide them with a substantial competitive advantage. Customers indicated that they consider the one-stop shop to be convenient, but that they might well keep several suppliers if the price differences justified it. The Commission concluded that the concentration did not create or strengthen a dominant position as a result of which effective competition would be significantly impeded in the EEA or ant substantial part of that area.