(Ecofin Agency) - The Senegalese Telecommunications and Posts Regulatory Authority (ARTP) has decided to restructure the postal sector, which is operated by various operators providing postal operations and services, particularly the collection, sorting, routing, and delivery of mail and parcels.

To put an end to any violation of Act No. 2006-01 of 4 January 2006 on the Postal Code, which stipulates in Articles 27 and 28 that postal activity is subject to “obtaining a mail operating license issued by order of the Minister responsible for the Post Office, after consulting the regulatory institution,” ARTP announces the forthcoming launch of control operations in collaboration with the police, gendarmerie, and customs throughout the national territory.

During these operations, any report of unauthorized postal activity exposes offenders and their accomplices to the criminal and pecuniary penalties provided for in the above-mentioned texts, per article 43 of the Postal Code, which states that “anyone who carries out a postal activity without having first obtained a license shall be punished by a fine of ten (10) to thirty (30) million francs and imprisonment for two (2) months to three (3) years, or one of these two penalties only.”

According to the telecom regulator, only 17 companies are licensed to carry out postal activities in the country, including the National Postal Corporation.