The first meeting of the European Committee for Postal Regulation (CERP) working group (WG) that will focus on issues concerning the Universal Postal Union (WG UPU) was held last 12-13 October in Vienna. Chaired by Norway, this group was created following the CERP internal reorganisation approved at the 44th plenary meeting (Dublin, May 2011) and aims to continue the work carried out by PT Policy under the previous framework, furthering collaboration among CERP countries vis-à-vis issues dealt with in the UPU in order to empower the Restricted Union status (on behalf of CEPT) in that United Nations agency.
The first meeting's agenda thus focused mainly on UPU activities and topics of more interest for European countries. A preview of what should occur at the UPU Council of Administration (CA) annual session scheduled for this 24 October to 11 November was presented, with emphasis on work to reorganise the UPU. The subject of terminal charges was once again debated, even though the European countries still hold different opinions.
But the main concern of this WG UPU meeting was the preparation of proposals for the 25th UPU Congress (September 2012 in Doha, Qatar) and European co-ordination of the position to take regarding proposals at the Congress. Above all, an attempt was made to agree on procedures, specifically a code of conduct for common positions at the Congress. WG UPU was to present the results at the 45th CERP plenary meeting on 27 October in Montreux, Switzerland.
