Postal Union Congress

The Postal Union Congress is the main international meeting of the Universal Postal Union, used to discuss various issues affecting international postal services, such as legislation, the political climate, and other strategic issues. The first congress was held in Bern, Switzerland in 1874, and was attended by delegates from 22 countries, most of them European. The meetings are normally held every four years, although they were cancelled during the two World Wars.[1] Extraordinary Meetings can also be called outside the four-year cycle.

The British £1 stamp for the 1929 Postal Union Conference, designed by Harold Nelson.

Delegates are usually presented with special albums of stamps by the other participating countries, to cover the period since the previous congress.

Quadrennial Congresses

Session of the Postal Union Congress in 1885, in the hall of the Supreme Court of Justice, Lisbon
Number Year Location Topic
1st1874Bern, SwitzerlandSystem of base rates developed.[2]
2nd1878Paris, FranceColour coding of postage stamps,[2] international parcel post service proposed by Germany.[3]
3rd1885Lisbon, PortugalReply-paid postcards authorised.[2]
4th1891Vienna, Austria-HungaryRules about Paquebots.[2]
5th1897Washington, DC, United StatesCheaper international postage.[2]
6th1906Rome, ItalyFree postage for prisoners of war.[2]
7th1920Madrid, SpainMeter mail and window envelopes approved.[2]
8th1924Stockholm, Sweden
9th1929London, United KingdomPostage paid franking approved,[2] first airmail regulations.[4]
10th1934Cairo, Egypt
11th1939Buenos Aires, ArgentinaIntroduction of Fonopost.[2]
12th1947Paris, France
13th1952Brussels, BelgiumApproval of Aerogrammes.[2]
14th1957Ottawa, Canada
15th1964Vienna, Austria
16th1969Tokyo, Japan
17th1974Lausanne, Switzerland
18th1979Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
19th1984Hamburg, West Germany[5]
20th1989Washington, DC, United States[6]
21st1994Seoul, South Korea[7]
22nd1999Beijing, People's Republic of China[8]
23rd2004Bucharest, Romania[9]
24th2008Geneva, Switzerland[10]
25th2012Doha, Qatar
26th2016Istanbul, Turkey

Extraordinary Congresses

Number Year Location Topic
1st1900Berne, Switzerland25th anniversary of the UPU[11]
2nd2018Addis Ababa, EthiopiaSustainability of the postal sector[11]
3rd2019Geneva, SwitzerlandRemuneration of small packets[11]

References

  1. "The Universal Postal Union (UPU)". Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations. Encyclopedia. 2007. Retrieved 2010-03-25.
  2. "The Evolution of the Postal Service in the Era of the UPU" by Jamie Gough in The London Philatelist, Vol.114, No. 1331, December 2005, pp.362-363.
  3. The international parcel service, which allowed the orderly shipment of mailed packages and parcels from one country to another according to predetermined rates, was established by the Universal Postal Union on 1 October 1881 (Great Britain, India, The Netherlands and Persia, 1 April 1882), following the agreement of 9 October 1880 in Paris. The service was difficult to introduce as in several countries the carriage of parcels was a monopoly of the railway companies, and Egypt, Great Britain, India, Canada and Italy all initially claimed that there was no parcel service in their country. Source: "The Universal Postal Union: Its History and Progress. A paper read before the Leeds Philatelic Society by E. Egly, President, on December 19th, 1905." in The London Philatelist, Vol. XV, No. 169, January 1906, pp. 2-11.
  4. http://www.icao.int/icao/en/hist/stamps/1927_airline_companies_officially_recognized_as_airmail_%20carriers.htm Retrieved 18 March 2010.
  5. United Nations Staff (1985). Yearbook of the United Nations, Vol. 39. The Netherlands: United Nations, Department of Public Information. p. 1342. ISBN 0-7923-0503-5.
  6. "Arago: 20th UPU Congress Issue". Arago: Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Retrieved 2009-04-19.
  7. U.S. Postal Service : Postal and Telecommunications Sector Representation in International Organizations. Washington: United States General Accounting Office. 1998-10-29. p. 39.
  8. "The 22nd UPU Congress". China Post. Archived from the original on January 19, 2005. Retrieved 2009-04-19.
  9. "Andorra führt Postleitzahlen ein" (in German). Andorra Intern. 2004-02-27. Retrieved 2009-04-19.
  10. International Geneva Yearbook 2009, Volume 21. Geneva: United Nations. 2008. p. 179. ISBN 978-92-1-000161-8.
  11. "Frequently Asked Questions: Third Extraordinary Congress | UPU". Universal Postal Union. 17 September 2019.
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