The annual session of the Council of Administration (CA) was held last 2-13 November at UPU headquarters in Berne, Switzerland. ANACOM accompanied the work of the plenary session as well as the committees (governance and regulatory issues, finance, strategy and cooperation) and respective project groups (PGs). Noteworthy was ANACOM vice-chair José Perdigoto’s participation as a speaker in the UPU Conference on Regulation.
One much debated issue was reform of the UPU, specifically the discussion of two concurrent proposals to restructure the organisation, one developed by the ad hoc group that has been dealing with this matter since last April, and the other an initiative of the director general. The result of the lengthy discussions was to charge the ad hoc group with continuing work on the issue, with a view to submitting to the CA a reform proposal that merges those two proposals.
Highlights with respect to the committee on governance and regulatory issues and respective PGs include the following:
- compensation issues, specifically principles of the pay system for the next cycle;
- access by players outside the postal sector to UPU products and services;
- development of a sanction mechanism for long-term debt associated to non-payment of general accounts between designated operators;
- study of legal, regulatory, operational and economic problems linked to the presence of various designated operators in one member country;
- enhancement of the regulatory function in the UPU context;
- the proposal to restrict the use of UPU forms;
- the proposal to establish a Permanent Convention.
The committee on finance approved the UPU’s draft programme and budget for 2016, keeping the value of the unit of contribution, and also a draft resolution meant to encourage payment of overdue UPU debts before the 2016 Istanbul Congress. A proposal from the DG to revise the personnel regulations was also debated at length. It was not adopted and should be studied by an ad hoc group, which will put forward a proposal to consider at the next CA session.
The next CA session is scheduled for February 2016 and will prepare for the Istanbul Congress to be held the following September.
