Universal Postal Union

Industry:	Postal service
Founded:	1874
Headquarters:	Universal Postal Union International Bureau P.O. Box 3000 BERNE 15 SWITZERLAND
Website:	upu.int
Facebook:	Universal Postal Union
LinkedIn:	Universal Postal Union
Key People
Edouard Dayan, Director General Guozhong Huang, Deputy Director General

UPU is the abbreviation for Universal Postal Union. UPU was established in the year 1874 and is headquartered in the Swiss capital Berne. It is one of the smallest United Nations specialized agency. The UPU is the second oldest international organization in the entire world. The UPU contains 191 member countries; this makes the UPU one of the most primary forums for co-operation between the postal sector players. The UPU also helps in ensuring that there is a true universal network of the latest products and services. The UPU also sets the rules for the sake of international mail exchanges and provides recommendations that help to enhance the parcel, the volumes of financial services and enhance the quality of the service to the consumers.

Organization of the UPU

The UPU comprises of four bodies, which include the Congress, The Council of Administration (CA), the International Bureau (IB), the Postal Operations (POC). It also consists of 2 cooperatives, the EMS Cooperative and Telematic Cooperative.

Services of the UPU

The following are the services of the UPU

• General policy issues
• Letter post
• Electronic services
• Financial services
• Technical cooperation
• Parcels
• Postal economics
• Sustainable development

The Strategy of the UPU

The paradigm shift in the postal arena led the UPU to devise some strategies that could be implemented worldwide. The UPU had to implement a strategy with certain solutions and objectives that are custom-made so that they are able to solve the various problems, which postal operators are currently facing. The strategic planning of the UPU helps the its member countries to meet the new challenges and also assists them in bringing their working methods in accordance with the trends that take place in the postal sector.

The main strategic plan of the UPU is to fulfill the needs of the postal-sector partners. This effort of the UPU has its root from the strategic planning process, in which the member countries are considered to be most important. The strategic plan of the UPU is really one of the most essential communication tools that stipulate the relations between the operators, regulators, restricted unions and the governments.

UPU and ICANN

The UPU entered into an agreement with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) for the sake of sponsorship of the .POST top-level domain on 20 October 2009. The agreement gives right to both the organizations to recognize their traditional autonomy as well as their core values and mission. The agreement between the two organizations is considered to be a good achievement for the both the organizations in particular and the global Internet Community in particular as it has helped ICANN to encourage the expansion of the domain name space.

There are also stark similarities between the ICANN and UPU in the arena of active participation of representatives of various geographical areas and their respective governments and constituencies. Both, ICANN as well as the UPU are governed by a bottom-up process. They also serve billions of people across the world.