The second meeting of the ad hoc group on UPU Reform was held on 28-29 June in Bern, Switzerland, chaired by China. This group reports directly to the plenary session of the UPU Council of Administration.
This meeting was mainly meant to discuss responses to a questionnaire addressed to all UPU member states and to observers involved in the reform discussions. The aim is to continue work on developing a proposal to present to the CA and later to the extraordinary Congress to be held in 2018.
The group’s first meeting last April made the decision to send out the questionnaire, which focused on a number of questions then considered open, regarding the UPU reform model to develop.
The questionnaire responses and debates indicated that there was consensus on a number of questions, specifically: intergovernmental nature of the UPU, need to enhance functional separation between regulatory and operational matters, the composition of the regulatory body should essentially be maintained, and the CA election method.
Major points remaining open were identified as being: the need to review the composition and method of electing the operational body (corresponding to the current Postal Operations Council), definition of functions and composition of a coordination body between sessions of the regulatory and operational bodies.
Also, the working programme for upcoming months was defined; a smaller working team was set up to develop matters still open and present proposals to the ad hoc group.
The group’s next meeting will be held on the occasion of the next CA session, scheduled for 23-27 October 2017.
