Postal regulator and security top Saepa agenda

Registration has ground to a halt
ALAN PEAT
AT ITS recent annual general meeting (AGM), the SA Express Parcel Association (Saepa) elected its new board, but it was otherwise a low-key affair, according to executive director, Garry Marshall. The more crucial moment is the first directors’ meeting this week, when the most urgent matters in the industry requiring Saepa involvement will be tabled – and the future direction of the association charted. A primary aim will be to sort out the now rather drawn-out express parcels industry versus postal regulator saga, according to Marshall. This after the regulator’s office devised a ruling that all express parcel carriers had to be registered. But, Marshall told FTW, while the regulator intended to aim this selectively at the “courier” industry, the rather generalised wording of the regulations meant that anybody carrying a parcel of goods under 30-kilograms (no matter with what intent) was deemed to be usurping the post office parcel post function – and therefore also needed to be registered. Although Saepa felt that it had got the message through to the regulator, nothing has yet been done to remedy the malfunctioning regulations – and indeed all that has happened, according to Marshall, is that the registration structure has ground to a halt. “The first lot of registrations are now expiring,” he said, “and they haven’t got the re-registration structure in place.” Effectively, he added, anyone whose registration has lapsed will now have to run “illegally”. Second on the Saepa list is the adherence to the new Section 108 security procedures. There is no objection in the association to the defensive measures in the scheme, and it recommends voluntary compliance by all its members. “But,” said Marshall, “it definitely exerts pressures on the industry.” The latest worry is the fact that strong hints are being received from high levels of government that a new “permit system” may be on the cards for the road transport industry – of which the express industry are members. “I’ve also heard that there’s something there,” said Marshall – who feels that it is part of a current government phobia to institute controls on various industry sectors.