The annual session of the Council of Administration (CA) took place last 3-14 November at UPU headquarters in Berne, Switzerland. ANACOM accompanied the work of the plenary session, the committees (Governance and Regulatory Issues, Finance, Strategy and Cooperation) and the respective project groups (PGs).
In the scope of the Governance and Regulatory Issues Committee and respective PGs, the work and discussions on the following stand out:
- development of a sanction mechanism for long term debts associated to terminal charges between designated operators, as well as the presentation of a proposal from Argentina aiming to strengthen the regulatory function in the UPU scope. This matter is being handled by the Regulatory Issues project group;
- revision of the letter post and parcel post regulations, and proposals to modify the parcel post regulations by the Acts of the Union project group;
- more clarification and distinction of responsibilities among the Union’s different bodies, along with more participation of stakeholders in the UPU Consultative Committee, in the scope of the Reform of the Union project group;
- presentation given by the European Commission (EC) on the new legal framework in European Union (EU) customs matters, which led to heated debate about the impact of customs issues on postal activity, the UPU and respective members. The discussion highlighted the need for more cooperation among postal and customs authorities from each country and eventually for more involvement by the latter in the UPU’s work.
The Finance Committee approved the UPU’s draft programme and budget for 2015, maintaining the contribution unit’s value, and created an ad hoc group on the contribution system and the Union’s long term financing.
The Strategy Committee approved the sending of a questionnaire to all UPU members to help work out priorities for activities envisaged in the 2015 programme and budget, given that available resources are not enough to develop all activities.
The CA was informed of the reasons for cancelling the UPU Strategy Conference which should have been held in October in Côte d’Ivoire (due to public health concerns associated to the Ebola virus outbreak in Africa) and approved rescheduling it until April next year, in principle in Geneva.
Preparations for the Istanbul Congress were also discussed, especially the matter of reducing the number of committees and the congress’s duration, for more efficient and streamlined resource use, along with the approval of proposals to change the UPU’s procedures for submitting proposals to the Congress. The host country gave a presentation on logistical aspects.
The next session of the CA will be held in October/November 2015. The annual session of the Postal Operations Council (POC), the Strategy Conference and meetings of some CA project groups will take place in April 2015.
