The annual session of the UPU Council of Administration (CA) was held on 4-20 October in Berne, chaired by Romania and attended by the various project teams and commissions.
Noteworthy in the CA plenary session is the Director-General?s communication on the organisation of the UPU Strategy Conference, to be held in Dubai this 14-16 November, and preparations for the next UPU Congress, to be held in 2008 in Nairobi. Also standing out is the report on the work undertaken by the CA commissions on Reform of the Union, Regulatory Issues, and Finances, as well as the report from the action groups for Postal Security, Postal Development and Development Co-operation.
Regarding Commission 1 (Reform of the Union), chaired by Germany, the work carried out by the working group on UPU Structure and Constitution was approved and the International Secretariat (IS) was charged with continuing analysis of the developed reform models and deeper study of the main legal questions raised. Commission 1 also approved the report submitted by the working group responsible for the system of compulsory contributions for the regular UPU budget. Lastly, it took note of the report from the project team on Sharing Responsibilities, which decided to submit to the analysis of the working group on UPU Structure and Constitution a document on the criteria to be considered when choosing the presidents and vice-presidents of Union bodies.
Among the work produced by Commission 2 (Regulatory Issues), chaired by Brazil, the report from the project teams on Acts of the Union, Universal Postal Service, WTO Issues and Terminal Dues-Governance Issues stands out. The Commission also approved the creation of an ad hoc group to define certain terms used in the Acts of the Union. The CERP (the CEPT European Committee for Postal Regulation) President also gave a presentation titled ?What is the Regulator?s Role in Practice??
As for Commission 3 (Finances), chaired by Nigeria, the work focused on approving the Union?s extra-budget accounts for the year 2005, approving the draft Programme and Budget for 2007-2008, settling on an amount for the Union budget contribution unit, authorising a debit in the reserve fund for financing the next UPU Congress in 2008, and extending the mandate of the working group charged with studying the system of compulsory contributions to the Union?s ordinary budget and studying the problem of zero nominal growth.
The project team (PT) Acts of the Union from Commission 2, chaired by the USA, examined the following issues:
- The proposal to set up an ad hoc group to revise the current definitions contained in the Acts and to produce, by the end of 2006, the preliminary definitions of some new terms, in order to submit them to this PT at its meeting during the 2007 CA;
- Analysis, per the mandate assigned by the Bucharest Congress, of replacing the term ?postal administration? by the terms ?member country? and ?designated operator? in the Acts of the Union, specifically in the Convention, the Correspondence Regulation, Orders Regulation, Postal Payment Services Agreement and Postal Payment Services Agreement Regulation. The examination of some matters included in the said Acts, such as, for example, terminal dues and responsibilities, was passed on to the respective project teams for a more technical analysis;
- Approval that when arbitration processes are established, the designated operators have to undertake same via the respective countries, so that they act in accordance with the procedures envisaged for disputes between member countries. Such decision takes into account that the UPU is an inter-governmental organisation, in which only the countries and not the designated operators are members of the Union;
- Approval of the definitions of ?member country? and ?designated operator?;
- Presentation of the preliminary version of the practical legislative guide, which aims for general coherence of the Acts of the Union, with regard to both procedures with rules and formulation, aiding the correct editing and understanding of the normative texts.
Regarding the working group on UPU Structure and Constitution, from Commission 1, same discussed the subject of the Union?s future structure and the powers of its bodies, with the IS including some of the issues that had remained pending from the previous meeting in the presentation of the two models for debate, so as to more clearly define the role of the Councils of Administration and Postal Operations, and the respective co-ordination, as well as the International Secretariat and the Advisory Committee, in the future UPU model.
The next CA session has been scheduled for 22 October to 9 November 2007.
