FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS: Though Congress is the supreme authority of the UPU, several other bodies coordinate the UPU’s work THE UNIVERSAL throughout the cycle: POSTAL UNION Universal Postal Congress Established in 1874, with its headquarters in Berne, Switzerland, the Universal Postal HOW THE UPU 192 member Union is the world’s second WORKS countries oldest international organization. With 192 member countries, At each quadrennial the UPU is the primary forum Universal Postal Congress, Council of the UPU’s 192 member for postal cooperation between countries come together to Administration (CA) governments, Posts, regulators make rules, set policy and and many other postal sector approve a new strategy for 41 member countries stakeholders. the next four-year work cycle. Political body of the UPU The strategy for 2017–2020, Studies regulatory, administrative known as the Istanbul World and legal issues Postal Strategy, has three The UPU helps ensure the major goals: provision of a truly universal Consultative Committee postal service, with physical, financial and electronic Represents the interests Improve the dimensions. It does this of the wider postal sector interoperability primarily by: Reports to the CA of network infrastructure establishing multilateral cooperation and agreements; Ensure Postal Operations sustainable Council (POC) developing technical and modern and quality-of-service products 40 member countries standards; Technical and operational body of the UPU Deals with operational, economic providing technical Foster effective and commercial aspects of postal assistance and market business development cooperation; and sector functioning regulating worldwide traffic of international mail; International As a United Nations Bureau (IB) monitoring specialized agency, the UPU market trends; has a mandate to promote 250 staff global socio-economic Secretariat of the UPU, located in development and help its making recommendations Berne, Switzerland members contribute to the for modernizing postal Provides logistical and technical achievement of the UN products; support to UPU bodies Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. fostering dialogue among all postal sector players. FAQ: THE UNIVERSAL POSTAL UNION #postaltogether