L 19/50 Official Journal of the European Union 23.1.2009 COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 19 December 2008 exempting certain services in the postal sector in Sweden from the application of Directive 2004/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council coordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors (notified under document number C(2008) 8409) (Only the Swedish text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2009/46/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Directive 2004/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 coordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors (1), and in particular Article 30(4) and (6) thereof, Having regard to the request submitted by Posten AB Sweden (hereinafter referred to as Sweden Post) by e-mail of 19 June 2008, After consulting the Advisory Committee for Public Contracts, Whereas: I. FACTS (1)  On 19 June 2008, Sweden Post transmitted a request pursuant to Article 30(5) of Directive 2004/17[EC to the Commission by email In accordance with Article 30(5) first subparagraph, the Commission informed the Swedish authorities thereof by letter of 25 June 2008, to which the Swedish authorities, following a request for prolongation of the deadline, answered by e-mail of 2 September 2008. The Commission also requested additional information of Sweden Post by e-mail of 30 July 2008, which was transmitted by Sweden Post by e-mail of 15 August 2008. (2)  The request submitted by Sweden Post concerns certain postal services as well as certain services other than postal services in Sweden. The services described in the request are as follows: () O] L 134, 30.4.2004, p. 1. (a) addressed first class letters services (Consumer to Consumer (CtC), Consumer to Business (CtB), Business to Business (BtB) and Business to Consumer (BtC)), both domestic and international; this category also includes priority distribution of newspapers and express services; (b) non-priority letter services, including the so-called ‘e- brev’ services, distribution of non-priority news- papers and addressed direct mail. E-brev is a service whereby the customer submits material on electronic media and this is then transferred through a printing and enveloping service into physical letters which are combined with a postage service; within this category of services, further distinctions are made according to the fact that certain types of mail are handled differently and priced differently. Thus, there is a fundamental difference between single items and large sorted shipments (also called pre-sorted bulk mail). For this last category, yet another difference is made according to the geographic area in which this service is offered, i. e between large sorted shipments in metropolitan areas () and large sorted shipments elsewhere in Sweden. A particularly relevant consequence of this distinction is that prices differ according to where the services are rendered and the differences are substantial (). For the purposes of this Decision, three different services will therefore be considered, namely: — non-priority letter services in general, ie. all non- priority letter services as just described, to the exclusion of: (3) Defined as certain postal code areas pertaining to larger cities and environs, such as Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmé and Visterds. (}) On average 0,40 SEK — in comparison, the price for a non-priority letter of up to 20 g (single item) is 4,0 SEK and the price for non- priority letters in large sorted shipments outside of the metropolitan areas is 2,84 SEK. On average, the price in metropolitan areas is 16,39 % cheaper for non-priority letters in large sorted shipments.