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On January 21, 2004, the European Commission issued a state aid ruling on the assump-
tion by the Belgian government of pension obligations owed by the Belgian telecommu-
nications company Belgacom to employees. Some press statements reported that the Eu-
ropean Commission would consider applying the state aid principles of this decision to
Deutsche Post AG if the European courts grant Deutsche Post AG’s appeal against the
European Commission’s state aid ruling dated June 19, 2002. According to these press
reports, this could result in a substantial nancial burden for Deutsche Post AG.
However, the European Commission has not conrmed these reports. In addition, it is
our opinion that the facts of the case governing the ruling of January 21, 2004, dier from
the statutory regulation of Deutsche Post AG’s pension obligations. We believe that the ar-
rangements for nancing pension obligations do not constitute state aid by the Federal Re-
public of Germany, based on the European Commission’s previous decisions. Furthermore,
the European Commission has already examined in detail the contributions by the Federal
Republic to nance pensions within the scope of the state aid proceedings that have already
been concluded, and did not establish any illegal aid in its decision of June 19, 2002. In this
respect, Deutsche Post AG therefore claims protection under the principle of legitimate
expectations. Nevertheless, no assurance can be given that the European Commission will
not nd that the facts of the case constitute state aid.
Avoiding or limiting infrastructure risks
Expanding our Group worldwide means an increase in the demands on the infrastructure
we require to operate the business. We attempt to avoid business interruptions at key op-
erational locations by monitoring our complex conveyor and sorting systems. If damage
were nonetheless to occur, our numerous precautions as well as emergency and contin-
gency plans would provide eective tools with which to reduce the nancial eects of any
potential interruption to business.
We have concentrated our information technology at centrally located data centers in all
time zones around the world, thereby creating a high-performance infrastructure and im-
proving our IT-supported business processes. As a result, however, we have become more
susceptible to business interruptions, which can be caused by natural disasters or human
error. A dedicated IT risk management system is in operation in the data centers with a
view to avoiding such interruptions. is allows us to guard against failures and to reduce
the impact in the event of an interruption.
We intend to maintain and further extend our position in the highly-competitive express
market. To do this we will require ecient transport networks that provide the capacity re-
quired to meet the exacting demands of our customers in respect of posting and delivery
Annual Report 2005
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