A joint meeting of the two UPU Councils, the Council of Administration (CA) and Postal Operations Council (POC), was held last 12-16 December in Bern, Switzerland, during which the plenary meetings of the POC and CA were also held, respectively on 12-16 December and 15-16 December. ANACOM took part in the CA meeting and only partially in the POC meeting, where national representation was covered by CTT-Correios de Portugal.
This was the first meeting since the 26th Congress, held from 20 September to 7 October 2016 in Istanbul, except for the inaugural meetings of both councils last 6 and 7 October during that Congress.
These meetings were thus meant to follow up the Congress decisions and set in motion the work to organise the new cycle by approving the structure, composition and working methods of the two councils and respective subsidiary bodies.
In the CA context a highlight was approval of the 2017 budget, based on the four-year financial plan approved at the Congress, as well as the discussion about the composition and function of the ad hoc group on Union reform. That group’s mission is to continue work on reforming the UPU begun during the previous cycle. This was one of the most controversial issues at the Congress, which was unable to approve a definitive proposal on the subject, though it did approve continuing work so a proposal could be drawn up for approval at an extraordinary congress planned to take place mid-cycle in 2018. The proposal submitted to the CA regarding composition of the ad hoc group envisaged participation limited to two countries for each of the five geographical regions, which would supposedly represent the other countries in the respective regions. This limit on participation in a group that will have a very major impact on the organisation’s future was strongly contested by the members and observers attending the CA mee
ting, who argued that this group should be as open as possible so that a solution can be found with maximum consensus for approval in 2018. The defenders of limited participation countered that given the matter’s sensitive nature it might not be feasible to work on and develop specific proposals in a group with too many participants. They suggested as an alternative that working methods could be devised to ensure that all stakeholders can submit contributions for debate (written, for example) even though they are not necessarily group members.
It was not possible to reach agreement on this issue, so the CA chair asked the ad hoc group’s chair (China) to evaluate the various opinions, coordinate with the other chairs and vice-chairs of CA bodies and the International Bureau, and eventually present a proposal on how the group is to function.
The CA also approved a decision concerning a letter that Russia’s designated operator sent to designated operators in other countries, which basically unilaterally imposes less advantageous conditions for distribution of international mail in Russian territory. This matter was discussed in both the CA and the POC; the CA’s respective decision aims to suspend any step the International Bureau may take regarding this initiative by the Russian operator so that the measure’s legal consequences can be studied before making a definitive decision, namely bearing in mind the negative impact it may have vis-à-vis the quality of international postal services.
The POC also considered changes to the regulations resulting from amendments to the convention and to the agreement covering paid postal services approved by the Congress. It was originally planned that this POC session would approve the revised version of the regulations. However, their formal approval and signing was postponed until the March 2017 session because several inconsistencies were detected along with needs for improvement and alignment in the texts considered. This is also possible because the next POC session will be held within the six-month period after the Congress during which regulations must be reviewed, as stipulated in the UPU’s legal instruments.
The next sessions of the CA and the POC will respectively take place on 3-7 April and 27-31 March 2017.
