¹Postal service providers as defined in Directive 97/67/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council⁷, including providers of courier services, should be subject to this Directive if they provide at least one of the steps in the postal delivery chain, in particular clearance, sorting, transport or distribution of postal items, including pick-up services, while taking account of the degree of their dependence on network and information systems. ²Transport services that are not undertaken in conjunction with one of those steps should be excluded from the scope of postal services.