The Universal postal union (UPU) is a specialized institution of UNO. Its goal is to support the good development, as well as the co-operation, of the various existing postal systems.

The head office of the UPU is with Bern, in Suisse. The official language of the UPU is the French. The international organization counts 191 Member States today.

History

With the industrial revolution, the need for communication became increasingly important between the various countries. It was thus necessary to create an organization where the various States could meet to lay down the procedure allowing their postal systems to work together.

As of 1841 - 1842, the German J. Herrfeldt evokes in its articles a “universal postal union”.

The invention of the postal Timbre henceforth made pay the port by the shipper. However, for forwardings towards the foreigner, only of the bilateral agreements existed. The calculation of the carriage costs according to the crossed countries and the means of transport employed was thus great complexity with the risk to see the fold or the taxed parcel.

In August 1862, Montgomery Blair, the managing director of the post office of the the United States announces to the Secretary of State the problems encountered by the American companies in their mail and their foreign trade. Blair receives the support of the president Abraham Lincoln, and it is under the impulse of the managing director that an International Conference, gathering 15 country of Europe and of America, had place with Paris, in May 1863. The purpose of this conference was to establish common procedure and postage rates simpler to calculate. Unfortunately, no truly applicable agreement was found, even if this “First international postal Conference” leads to a simplification of the postage rates.

The September 15th 1874, Heinrich von Stephan, director of the postal service of the Confederation of Germany of North, organized the International Conference of the post office the purpose of which was to create an international Postal Union. The conference opened with Bern, the capital of the Suisse and accommodated the representatives of 22 country.

The result of this conference was the Traité of Bern, the October 9th 1874, which created the General union of the stations. Because of the increase in the number of its members, it was decided in Paris in 1878 to rename the International organization in Universal postal union.

The July 4th 1947, the UPU signs an agreement with UNO and becomes thus one of its specialized institutions.

Organization

The UPU is composed of various bodies:

  • the universal postal Congress : it is the supreme authority of the UPU. The Congress meets every 4 years and is composed of all the plenipotentiary ones of the Member States. It fixes the main roads of work for the 4 years to come, as well as the budget of the organization;
  • the Board of directors (CA): it supervises the activities of the UPU and examines the various relative questions with the general good performance of the organization. It meets every year. It is composed of the representatives of 41 Member States, plus the president of CA;
  • the the Council of postal exploitation (STOCK): it is in charge of all the technology matters. It is composed of the representatives of 40 Member States elected by the Congress;
  • the International office : it is the head office of the UPU. It brings a logistical support for the various bodies of the UPU. Some of the 150 permanent employees of the Office can also serve advisers near the Member States of the organization;
  • the restricted Unions : in fact Unions meet, if need be, to culturally treat questions of co-operation between various countries geographically or close relations. There are on the whole 16 restricted Unions:
    • Association of the operators of the stations and telecommunications of the countries and territories of Portuguese official language (AICEP)
    • Association of the European public postal operators (PostEurop)
    • permanent Arab Commission of the stations (CAPE)
    • Commission of the European postal finance departments (CSFPE)
    • the regional Community of the stations and telecommunications (CRPT)
    • Conference of the administrations of the stations and telecommunications of central Africa (CAPTAC)
    • European Conference of the administrations of the stations and telecommunications (CEPT)
    • African Union of the stations and telecommunications (UAPT)
    • Panafrican Union of stations (UPAP)
    • African Postal Union (UPAf)
    • Baltic Postal Union (UPB)
    • Postal Union of the Caribbean (UPC)
    • Postal Union of Asia and the Pacific (APPU)
    • Postal Union of Americas, Spain and Portugal (UPAEP)
    • Postal Union of the countries of North (UPPN)
    • Postal Union of the South and the West of Asia (UPSOA).

Relations with the other international organizations

In order to allow a good effectiveness, the UPU maintains the close relationships with several international organizations who are:

Financing

The financing of the UPU is completely independent of that of UNO, only the Member States finance the organization. Each State can choose one of the 10 classes of financing during its admission within the UPU.

Following the crisis of financing of the international organizations, the UPU decided since 1992 to practice the policy of the zero growth . Since 1992, the growth of the budget voted by the congress is thus equal even lower than the world Inflation. It is approximately 22.500.000 Euro S.

See too

  • Station

  • List of the articles on philately

External bond

  • Official site

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