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

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.

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, D.C., 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, FranceUPU becomes the specialized agency of the United Nations.
13th1952Brussels, BelgiumApproval of Aerogrammes.[2]
14th1957Ottawa, Canada
15th1964Vienna, Austria
16th1969Tokyo, Japan
17th1974Lausanne, Switzerland
18th1979Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
19th1984Hamburg, West Germany[5]
20th1989Washington, D.C., United States[6]
21st1994Seoul, South Korea[7]
22nd1999Beijing, People's Republic of China[8]
23rd2004Bucharest, Romania[9]
24th2008Geneva, Switzerland[10] Original location was Nairobi, Kenya. Postponed due to political unrest after elections in 2007.
25th2012Doha, Qatar
26th2016Istanbul, Turkey
27th2021Abidjan, Ivory CoastPostponed from 2020 due to the Pandemic

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]
4th2023Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaOpportunities to expand membership[12][13]

References

  1. ↑ "The Universal Postal Union (UPU)". Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations. Encyclopedia. 2007. Retrieved 2010-03-25.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "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. ↑ "Error". www.icao.int. 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. ISBN 9781428974852.
  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. 1 2 3 "Frequently Asked Questions: Third Extraordinary Congress | UPU". Universal Postal Union. 17 September 2019.
  12. ↑ "4th Extraordinary Congress". Universal Postal Union. 1 October 2023.
  13. ↑ "Saudi Arabia hosts postal union conference". Arab News. 1 October 2023.
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