Rotterdam: Europe and the Arabs
The Dutch Court of Rotterdam on Wednesday confirmed a previous decision fining the Dutch postal company PostNL two million euros. Where the company did not deliver enough mail on time in 2019, but it claimed the existence of force majeure, represented by its acquisition of Sand that year.
But the court held that the acquisition was a "commercial choice" by PostNL and that the company had "put itself in the difficult position" of failing to deliver the mail on time.
PostNL was previously fined earlier this year by the Consumers and Markets Authority (ACM). The watchdog stated that PostNL was not adequately prepared for potential problems at Sandd and that mail delivery had been under stress for some time.
In the year it acquired Snad, PostNL eventually delivered 94.34 percent of its mail on next delivery day. It was supposed to be 95 percent.
The court's ruling can still be appealed to the Commercial and Industrial Court of Appeals. The postal company wants to study the ruling before deciding whether to file this appeal.