Deutsche Post World Net is being investigated in a new anti-competition probe launched by the European Commission.

The EU's Competition Commission has opened a "formal investigation against Germany" to determine whether Deutsche Post AG was too heavily subsidised for its postal activities, reported the UK's Transport Intelligence.

This comes after the EU ordered Deutsche Post AG to repay EUR572million (US$799.5 million) it received from the German state in 2002. The company was fined after the European Commission (EC) learned the funds were used to subsidise parcel services.

The latest probe will look into complaints that Deutsche Post benefited far more from the EUR572 million subsidy than earlier believed. It is further alleged that DP used money to undercut competitors by selling below cost.

The EC said it will be investigating all the subsidies paid to Deutsche Post and its predecessor from 1989 onwards to find out whether it was overcompensated beyond the incompatible aid previously recovered.