Uni­ver­sal Postal Union (UPU)

• Organisational structure
• Abidjan Congress

Organisational structure

Every four years, a Universal Postal Congress sets the UPU's strategic and financial course. The International Bureau (IB), based in Berne, takes care of day-to-day business between the regular Universal Postal Congresses. The IB works under the supervision of the CA, which also has control over the IB's finances and consists of 40 elected member countries together with the country hosting a Congress. The CA meets twice a year. The POC has 48 elected members and is responsible for international postal operational and standardisation matters. It also meets twice a year. The federal government nominated Deutsche Post AG (DP AG) as the designated operator responsible for the contractually agreed operational rights and obligations within the UPU.

Abidjan Congress

A Congress was due to be held in Abidjan, the capital of Côte d'Ivoire, in August 2020 to set the course for the next four years. The three-week event with a four-figure number of participants from all over the world had to be postponed for a year to August 2021 because of the pandemic. In view of the different situations in the various countries and regions regarding the pandemic, deciding on how to hold the Congress proved difficult. The Congress was finally held as a hybrid meeting in Abidjan from 9 to 27 August 2021, enabling participation both in person and online. A special arrangement was put in place for the event of any secret ballots. The arrangement restricted voting to those participating in person but allowed remote participants to authorise member countries with representatives attending in person to vote for them.

Election of the Director General and members of the bodies

Masahiko Metoki of Japan was elected as the new Director General and Marjan Osvald of Slovenia as Deputy Director General in a secret ballot. The members of the CA and the POC were also newly elected. Germany is again represented in both bodies in the work cycle from 2022 to 2025. While Côte d'Ivoire, as the host country, holds the CA Chair, France was elected to take the POC Chair.

Universal Postal Convention, budgetary issues

With respect to the UPU's official Acts, there was a fundamental change regarding the Universal Postal Convention. In the past, the whole Convention together with any amendments made to the previous Convention was newly agreed every four years at a Congress. The new Convention that was adopted in Abidjan and entered into force on 1 July 2022 will be valid indefinitely. In future, only amendments to the Convention will need to be newly agreed. This will make things simpler for numerous member countries with respect to ratifying the Convention and its amendments.

The system for member countries' contributions to the UPU was successfully redesigned, with Germany acting as mediator, resolving a long-standing point of contention. A scale for the level of individual countries' contributions was first developed on the basis of a distribution key for the expenditure of the UN. Several countries (including China, Germany, Japan and the USA) then committed themselves to a considerable expansion of their contributions. This will result in a reduction in the contributions paid by other countries, assuming otherwise stable conditions. However, according to the compromise agreed, this will only benefit those countries whose contribution matches or exceeds the scale or those undertaking significant steps to get close to this target. The UPU maintains a fund to finance the pensions for its staff. The fund is in turn financed by contributions from the staff and the UPU. For some time now, the fund has not grown sufficiently to cover expected future pension payments. About ten years ago, both the contributions and the pension age were raised to counteract the situation. Nevertheless, additional payments totalling around CHF3.7mn annually will be needed for at least another decade to stabilise and refinance the fund. A total of CHF1.7mn is currently financed from contributions from member countries and CHF2mn from the IB's regular budget.

Opening up the UPU

Opening up the UPU for wider postal sector stakeholders has been a topic of discussion for some time. Germany presented a relevant proposal for discussion at international level, with input from the Bundesnetzagentur drawn from its regulatory experience. At present, the designated operators mainly represent the operational rights and obligations under the Convention as well as the economic interests of the postal sector. The designated operators cover the whole spectrum from state postal administrations to fully privatised postal operators, depending on national circumstances. As member countries' expectations still differ widely in terms of the objectives and notions behind the idea of opening up the UPU, no specific or direct steps have been agreed for opening up membership in advisory bodies further, for instance for private-sector organisations.

Climate change initiative

Against the backdrop of climate change, the German delegation, together with Austria and France and with a significant contribution from DP AG, presented a proposal for international cooperation in the postal sector. The idea behind this initiative, which is supported by national postal organisations, is to explore ways for the transfer of knowledge regarding strategies for reducing greenhouse gases, climate financing measures and climate change adaptation measures, in particular in the context of international postal cooperation. It is specifically open to the whole postal sector and so also to undertakings not active as designated operators for UPU member countries.

Extraordinary Congress in 2023

The opening up of the UPU, budgetary issues related to transfer payments to the UPU's pension fund, and the global climate change initiative launched in Abidjan were recognised as three topics of such significance and consequence that it was decided not to restrict further discussions to within the CA but to hold a special extraordinary Congress in 2023. The growth in international sales has led to new customer expectations, such as real-time tracking for customers. Two options for the introduction of mandatory tracking for imports were discussed, but the member countries ultimately decided against both options and the introduction of mandatory rules. Another issue directly affecting customers has been the question of whether to shorten the period within which an inquiry has to be made, from six months to three months from the time an item was posted, in order to be guaranteed acceptance. The member countries decided to leave the period at six months.

The next regular Congress will be held in 2025 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.