MCA approves four shutdown days for Maltapost from requested six

Maltapost will be shutting down all services this Saturday, enabling the staff to enjoy a long Sta Marija weekend.

The shutdown was approved by the Malta Communications Authority.

A spokesman for the MCA explained that this was the second time that Maltapost will shut down for Santa Marija.

"According to Directive 1 of 2006 on the Procedure relating to the change of certain services provided by the Universal Services Provider under the Postal Services Act, Maltapost can apply for a number of shut down days during the year. In accordance with this Directive, Maltapost applied for six days of shut down during 2008. The MCA subsequently approved four days of shut down as follows: Wednesday, 2nd January 2008, Saturday, 16th August 2008, Saturday, 6th September 2008 and Friday, 26th December 2008.

"A number of conditions are attached to the approval of the days on which Maltapost will not operate. Such conditions include:

"1. Maltapost is still obliged to achieve the delivery targets established in the MCA’s Decision on the Postal Universal Service Provider’s Quality of Service Requirements.

"2. The shutdown on Friday 26th December 2008 will be subject to there being no backlog of Christmas mail.

"3. The MCA can reserve the right to rescind its approval in the event that the Quality of Service Requirements are not met."

A spokesman for Maltapost said the shutdown days were carefully chosen during days when activity was at a low.