17.04.2013 -
The UPU’s Postal Operations Council (POC) this week adopted the
revised regulations for international letter-post, parcel post and
postal payment services.
Making it official: Hussein and Metoki sign the updated international rules during the POC plenary
UPU Director General Bishar A. Hussein and POC Chairman Masahiko
Metoki signed the updated documents during the body’s plenary session on
Monday 15 April 2013 at UPU headquarters in Berne, Switzerland.
More than 300 proposals were adopted to modify the rules dealing with
how Posts exchange mail among themselves. These rules describe the
processes to follow to efficiently handle and distribute billions of
letter-post and parcel-post items that cross international borders every
year as well as service conditions and compensation methods for postal
operators.
The Agreement on postal payment services deals with the financial services offered by Posts.
The new international regulations will come into effect on 1 January 2014.
Developing new services
Often quite technical, the updates also make way for the development
of new optional postal services. This is the case for a merchandise
returns service that’s in the works.
Indeed, a new article in the regulations is paving the way for Posts
to eventually offer a returns service for merchandise bought
internationally. Once the details are ironed out, Posts will be able to
offer this optional prepaid and priority service to online retailers who
sell goods abroad and want customers to be able to conveniently return
unwanted goods.
Joost Magielsen, from PostNL, the Dutch designated operator, which
pushed for the inclusion of this new article in the regulations, says
it’s only the beginning, but having the article in the regulations is an
important step given the rise of e-commerce and the potential for
cross-border growth.
“The regulatory framework is in place; now we have to work out the
business details,” he says, adding that the UPU must now develop a user
guide and align the optional service with other return services being
explored for letter-post and express products.
Forty countries are members of the POC, whose session concludes on 19 April. More than 800 delegates are attending.
Source : http://news.upu.int
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