The most recent meetings of the task force set up within the UPU Council of Administration (CA) to study and propose a model to open the UPU to the wider postal sector were held on 7 September and 20 November 2020.
At both meetings, the UPU presented new versions of its proposal for the opening which nevertheless reflect little of the comments from the member countries since its first version. The main criticism has concerned the relatively non-transparent approach and the inexistence of a true group working methodology, which leads to the appearance of parallel proposals. For now, there is a notable difference between the countries that prefer the urgent opening and those that prefer a more cautious and gradual approach. And, even among the latter, there are those who hold that it would suffice to admit more members to the UPU Consultative Committee and others who are calling for a thorough reorganisation of that committee, even granting more rights to its members (such as the power to present proposals directly to the Congress, for example).
There does, however, seem to be convergence about the need for the 27th UPU Congress (meanwhile formally postponed until August 2021) to approve some form of opening so that the status quo is not maintained for one more cycle.
