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The Universal Postal Union (UPU) is the UN specialized agency dealing
with international postal relations. UPU is located in Bern, and
its Director General is Thomas E. Leavey of the United States.
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postal services of UPU's member countries form the largest physical
distribution network in the world. |
The UPU was created in 1874 by the Treaty of Bern, to ensure the
organization and improvement of postal services throughout the world.
It encourages international cooperation in the postal field, and
provides technical assistance in all postal sectors as requested
by its member-countries. (UPU technical assistance to developing
countries is financed principally by the UNDP.)
According to the UPU constitution, the member-countries comprise
a single postal territory for the reciprocal exchange of letter-post
items. Optional agreements have been concluded between UPU members,
concerning insured letters, postal parcels, postal money orders
and postal traveler's checks, the international postal checking
service (the giro service), and cash-on-delivery service. Freedom
of transit is guaranteed throughout the entire territory of the
union. The postal services of UPU's countries form the largest physical
distribution network in the world. Some 6.2 million postal employees
working in over 700,000 post offices all over the world handle an
annual total of 430 billion letters, printed matter and parcels
in the domestic service and almost 10 billion letters, printed matter
and parcels in the international service.
In recent years the UPU has introduced framework agreements to
encourage the worldwide application of services already available
in some countries. Such framework agreements facilitate the conclusion
of bilateral agreements between postal administrations for services
like EMS (express mail service), International Business Reply Service
and electronic mail. EMS (express mail service) is now available
in more than 170 countries and enables letters, printed matter,
and merchandise to be sent within guaranteed times (overnight for
some important international links), and at competitive rates compared
with those of private international courier firms.
UPU cooperates with the International Telecommunications Union
(ITU) on the transfer of funds and the standardization of electronic
mail. It also collaborates with many other intergovernmental and
non-governmental organizations, notably with ICAO for detection
of dangerous goods and bombs in the mail and with IAEA for the detection
of radioactive substances in the mail.
The UPU holds a Universal Postal Congress every five years to review
conditions governing international postal cooperation and to look
at ways to improve the postal service and bring it up-to-date. The
most recent Congress was held in Beijing in August - September 1999.
Computerization is being applied to more and more postal services
as their volume increases. The UPU estimates that 1,250 million
items circulate daily throughout the world thanks to the postal
service, and on the global average, one post office exists for every
8000 people.
The 1994 Seoul Congress launched a project called POST*Net which
uses electronic data interchange (EDI) for the collective benefit
of UPU members. POST*Net aims to improve the management of mail
dispatches, facilitate tracking and tracing, speed up accounting
procedures and settlements, and give postal services the means to
better control their business. By 1999, 54 postal administrations,
including the U.S. Postal Service, were exchanging postal data via
EDI.
UPU holds an annual exposition and conference, POST-EXPO, to showcase
new postal technologies and discuss challenges faced by postal services
around the world. The 2000 event will be held at Geneva's Palexpo
Center October 3-5.
Membership: In mid 2000, the UPU had 189 members.
Budget: The 1999 Council of Administration approved the
2000 budget to a total net expenditure of 35.7 million Swiss francs.
Internet
www.upu.int
Description of UPU and its programs, list of publications, information
about stamp collecting.
Address
Universal Postal Union
Weltpoststrasse 4
Case postale
CH-3000 Berne 15
Tel: (031) 350.31 11
Fax: (031) 350.31 10
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