Universal Postal Union-at a Glance...

Know About Universal Postal Union

Established in 1874, the Universal Postal Union (UPU) with its Headquarters in Berne (Switzerland), is the primary forum for cooperation between postal-sector players and helps to ensure a truly universal network of up-to-date products and services.

With 191 member countries, this specialised agency of the United Nations fulfils an advisory, mediating and liaison role, and renders technical assistance where needed. It sets the rules for international mail exchanges and makes recommendations to stimulate growth in mail volumes and to improve the quality of service for customers.

As a non-political organisation, it does not interfere in matters that fall within the domestic domain of national postal services. For example, Posts set their own postage rates, decide which and how many postage stamps to issue, and how to manage their postal operations and staff.

The UPU has for objective to develop social, cultural and commercial communication between people through the efficient operation of the postal service. As an inter-governmental institution, the UPU is called upon to play an important leadership role in promoting the continued revitalisation of postal services.

The Function of UPU

The UPU provides Posts with the technical and financial assistance they need in order to establish national and international postal financial services. The objective is to create and develop savings and banking services and extend and modernize these postal products. It also seeks to foster the development of electronic fund and payment transfers, and helps to simplify opera­tional procedures and reciprocal regulations. Finally, it promotes exchanges of technical data and other information.
Through its Postal Technology Centre, the UPU – a specialized agency of the United Nations – runs an exten­sive network of international fund transfer exchanges. Postal operators access this network to exchange money orders with their commercial partners using the IFS solution, which comprises two applications: the IFS (International Financial System) software, and STEFI, an information technology pipeline that enables Posts already equipped with a system for managing domestic money orders or with an integrated counter system for processing postal products to establish access points to the IFS network
IFS is a reliable, adaptable and easy-to-use tool. In line with the UPU Acts and Regulations, it is provided at low cost and can be installed even in the remotest areas of the world. The cost of implementing an IFS project varies from country to country, according to the size of the installation and the costs of upgrading the country's technological platform. On average, the IFS application costs 20,000 USD, plus an annual fee of 13,000 USD to cover maintenance, updates and techni­cal support. The least developed countries benefit from a 50% reduction.
When a country wishes to join the IFS network, the UPU visits it to evaluate its needs. During the installation of the application, the UPU trains specialists from the local Post, so that they can, in turn, train other staff. Once IFS has been installed, the UPU provides con­tinuous support from its main support centre in Berne (Switzerland), and from its regional support centres in Singapore, Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and Montevideo (Uruguay).