It established an industry regulator,
Postcomm (s.1), a
consumer watchdog,
Postwatch (s.2), required a "
universal service" of post to be provided (ss.3-4) and set up rules for licensing postal services operators (ss.6-41). It also converted the public branch of the postal industry, the
Post Office, from a
statutory corporation to a
public limited company, wholly owned by the government. The act made it an offence for Royal Mail, or intermediary companies working on behalf of Royal Mail, to open postal items, which included letters, to look at their contents. The act makes it an offence to intentionally delay the post or intentionally open a mail bag. ==Regulations==