Regulation of Private Express and Messenger Services

The decree is enacted to systematize supervision and control over the carriage and dissemination of mailable matter.
The supervision and control are imposed for the good of the public and in the interest of national security under the decree’s stated rationale.
Regulation is also directed to prevent dissemination through private delivery services of articles harmful to national security and public welfare.
Regulation is directed to ensure safe and proper handling of articles sent through private express and/or messenger delivery service firms.
Regulation is also directed to prevent ruinous competition among private express and/or messenger delivery firms.

Section 1 provides that no express and/or messenger delivery service firm may operate in the Philippines without possessing an “Authority to Operate Express and/or Messenger Delivery Service” issued by the Postmaster General.
Section 2 requires all express and/or messenger delivery service firms operating at the time of approval of the decree to secure the necessary “Authority to Operate an Express and/or Messenger Delivery Service” from the Postmaster General.
Section 2 imposes a compliance deadline of thirty (30) days from the date of approval of the decree to obtain the required authority.
Section 2 states that failure to secure the authority within thirty (30) days renders the firm’s existing franchises and/or authority cancelled and of no effect after the lapse of the period.

Section 3 defines “express and/or messenger delivery service firm” to include every individual, co-partnership, joint-stock company, or corporation.
Section 3 includes leases, trustees, or receivers that own, operate, manage, or control an express and/or messenger delivery service in the Philippines.
Section 3 covers services offered for hire or compensation with general or limited clientele, whether permanent, occasional, or accidental.
Section 3 covers services performed for general business purposes involving the personal delivery for other persons of oral or written messages and any mailable matter, except telegrams.
Section 3 excludes from the decree’s context the act of a person or his employee delivering an article owned by him.

Section 4 authorizes the Postmaster General (or his duly authorized representative) to exercise jurisdiction, supervision, and control over any express and/or messenger delivery service firm, including its authority to operate, equipment, and other properties.
Section 4 provides that, in exercising supervisory control, the Postmaster General is aided by the public police force.
Section 4 empowers the Postmaster General to grant or issue certificates known as “Authority to Operate Express and/or Messenger Delivery Service” when the operation will promote the public interest in a proper and suitable manner.
Section 4 limits the duration of any issued authority by providing that no such authority shall be issued for a period of more than 15 years.
Section 4 authorizes the Postmaster General to extend, suspend, or cancel an authority at any time when public interest so requires or when the holder violates any order, rule, or regulation of the Bureau of Posts, or as prescribed by the Postmaster General.

Section 4 requires the Postmaster General to promulgate reasonable rules, regulations, and practices to enable effective exercise of powers or to safeguard public interest.
Section 4 empowers the Postmaster General to fix and determine rates and charges of any express and/or messenger delivery service.
Section 4 authorizes the Postmaster General to exclude from carriage by such services any article considered harmful to public welfare, national security, public morals, and decency.
Section 4 authorizes the Postmaster General to confiscate and dispose such harmful articles in the manner he may prescribe.
Section 4 empowers the Postmaster General to compel a firm to maintain adequate and specific records of transactions and operations, and to exhibit them to the Postmaster General or his duly authorized representative upon demand.

Section 5 provides that all mailable articles accepted from any client for delivery by an express and/or messenger delivery service firm are considered mail matter for purposes of fidelity in handling and treatment.
Section 5 provides that criminal liability under existing laws accrues to any person who violates the fidelity obligations applicable to such mail matter.

Section 6 revokes or amends any provision of law that conflicts with the decree accordingly.
The decree takes effect immediately under Section 7.