Royal Mail publishes new PAF licences

Royal Mail's Address Management Unit has published new Postcode Address File (PAS) licences, which will come into effect from 1 April 2010.

PAF contains all 28 million UK residential and business delivery addresses and postcodes.

The new licences have been developed following a consultation with existing PAF users and resellers, and aim to provide a clearer and fairer licence for all users.

The price changes being made are revenue-neutral for Royal Mail, according to the organisation.

The changes do not affect consumers who want to check or search for a postcode.

The licences offer the flexibility for organisations to choose the most suitable terms of access to PAF to meet their individual business needs, through a move away from pricing based on the number of systems accessing PAF to user-based pricing - providing greater simplicity and transparency.

Licensed PAF users will be able to buy unlimited blocks of transactions for internal use, with prices for blocks of 100 PAF-based transactions, allowing smaller PAF users to operate on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Other benefits are said to include the reduction in the cost-per-user-licence and cuts in the price of data supply of up to 80 per cent.

Royal Mail has been working closely with the PAF Advisory Board during the development of the new licence.

The board has welcomed changes made, such as the removal of some of the previous restrictions on PAF usage and the reduction in fees for smaller businesses.

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