Key Licence changes being implemented 1st September 2007

After over a year of consultation between Royal Mail, their Direct Customers and their Value Added Resellers of PAF^®, Royal Mail has recently released their new Licence Agreement. This contains the terms and conditions under which PAF^® can be provided to End Users from 1st September 2007.

In addition to those listed below, there will be further changes made in September 2008 and September 2009. Royal Mail's aim is to increase the quality of PAF^®, make enough profit to maintain it and to make their charges fairer to both small and large businesses alike.

The new Licence will be implemented for existing customers at their point of renewal after 1st September 2007 and annually thereafter. New customers after September 1st will automatically be signed up to the licence in place at the time.

The main changes to be implemented from September 2007 are:

1. Lower Per-User charges
2. The point at which a System Licence applies is now 34 Users for Premise level PAF^® data and 28 Users for Thoroughfare level PAF^® data. Postzon data remains unchanged at 20 Users. This will in turn raise the price for system licences*
3. The Per Click Licence has been withdrawn for internal use by the End User. However, the Licence is offering restricted use of up to 500 transactions per company per annum. Royal Mail are using this restricted licence to test the marketplace.
4. The Per Click licence costs for use of Premise level address data is increasing.
5. An Associated User Network Licence is available for 10 or more associated organisations linked to the same central system. Conditions apply**.
6. If you take PAF^® data directly for mailing purposes, you should update your address data at least quarterly.
7. Software/services delivered via a Web service can now be purchased on an annual licence rather than solely on a per-click basis.

These are the key changes. For a more detailed explanation of the licence, or how the changes might affect you, please see the details on our licence page or .

We would like to advise you that we have been in constant communication with Royal Mail throughout their review and have been trying to ensure that the licence is fair to all our customers. This includes our continued support for an unlimited use of the Per Click licence for internal purposes. We hope to continue this process and we would be happy to hear your comments and feedback.

We will as always work hard to ensure that these changes are made as painless as possible for all our customers and to remain as flexible and customer focused as we can. As part of this, we would also like you to know that we have not taken these changes as an opportunity to increase our charges across the board, but have tried to maintain our fair and competitive pricing.

*The Royal Mail System Licence becomes valid at 34 users for Premise level PAF^® data but we choose to limit your fees at 26 Users for your advantage.

**Please contact us for more details.