The Postal Union Congress is the main international meeting of the Universal Postal Union, used to discuss various issues affecting international postal services, such as legislation, the political climate, and other strategic issues. The first congress was held in Bern, Switzerland in 1874, and was attended by delegates from 22 countries, most of them European. The meetings are normally held every four years, although they were cancelled during the two World Wars. Extraordinary Meetings can also be called outside the four-year cycle.
Delegates are usually presented with special albums of stamps by the other participating countries, to cover the period since the previous congress.
Quadrennial Congresses
Number Year Location Topic 1st 1874 Bern, Switzerland System of base rates developed."The Evolution of the Postal Service in the Era of the UPU" by Jamie Gough in The London Philatelist, Vol.114, No. 1331, December 2005, pp.362-363. 2nd 1878 Paris, France Colour coding of postage stamps, international parcel post service proposed by Germany.The international parcel service, which allowed the orderly shipment of mailed packages and parcels from one country to another according to predetermined rates, was established by the Universal Postal Union on 1 October 1881 (Great Britain, India, The Netherlands and Persia, 1 April 1882), following the agreement of 9 October 1880 in Paris. The service was difficult to introduce as in several countries the carriage of parcels was a monopoly of the railway companies, and Egypt, Great Britain, India, Canada and Italy all initially claimed that there was no parcel service in their country. Source: "The Universal Postal Union: Its History and Progress. A paper read before the Leeds Philatelic Society by E. Egly, President, on December 19th, 1905." in The London Philatelist, Vol. XV, No. 169, January 1906, pp. 2-11. 3rd 1885 Lisbon, Portugal Reply-paid postcards authorised. 4th 1891 Vienna, Austria-Hungary Rules about Paquebots. 5th 1897 Washington, D.C., United States Cheaper international postage. 6th 1906 Rome, Italy Free postage for prisoners of war. 7th 1920 Madrid, Spain Meter mail and window envelopes approved. 8th 1924 Stockholm, Sweden 9th 1929 London, United Kingdom Postage paid franking approved, first airmail regulations. 10th 1934 Cairo, Egypt 11th 1939 Buenos Aires, Argentina Introduction of Fonopost. 12th 1947 Paris, France UPU becomes the specialized agency of the United Nations. 13th 1952 Brussels, Belgium Approval of Aerogrammes. 14th 1957 Ottawa, Canada 15th 1964 Vienna, Austria 16th 1969 Tokyo, Japan 17th 1974 Lausanne, Switzerland 18th 1979 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 19th 1984 Hamburg, West Germany 20th 1989 Washington, D.C., United States 21st 1994 Seoul, South Korea 22nd 1999 Beijing, People's Republic of China 23rd 2004 Bucharest, Romania 24th 2008 Geneva, Switzerland Original location was Nairobi, Kenya. Postponed due to political unrest after elections in 2007. 25th 2012 Doha, Qatar 26th 2016 Istanbul, Turkey 27th 2021 Abidjan, Ivory Coast Postponed from 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic 28th 2025 Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Extraordinary Congresses
Number Year Location Topic 1st 1900 Bern, Switzerland 25th anniversary of the UPU 2nd 2018 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Sustainability of the postal sector 3rd 2019 Geneva, Switzerland Remuneration of small packets 4th 2023 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Opportunities to expand membership
References
External links
Universal Postal Union