Government proposes national adoption of the new Universal Postal Union Convention

On 10 November 2022, the Government proposed that the act on the Universal Postal Union (UPU) Convention be adopted. Provisions on the entry into force of the Act are issued by government decree.

The 27th Universal Postal Union Congress convened on 9-27 August 2021 in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. The Congress is the organisation's highest decision-making body, which meets every four years. At the Congress, negotiations were held on amendments to the UPU Convention, Constitution and Regulations. At international level, the agreements mainly entered into force on 1 July 2022.

The Convention defines the key rules for international postal services. The matters discussed at the 2021 Congress mainly concerned the operations of UPU and the designated operators of the member countries. In mainland Finland, the designated operator for UPU is Posti Ltd.

Amendments to the UPU Conventions are issued in the form of new conventions that will replace the earlier conventions in force. The aim of the current Convention is to improve the international postal services and the cooperation between the operators in the sector.

Some of the provisions in the previous convention remained unchanged in the new Convention, and only some articles were amended. Many of the amendments made are technical in nature. In addition, Finland proposed three new reservations to the Convention that were adopted at the 2021 Congress.

What's next?

The act is intended to enter into force at the same time as the Convention enters into force for Finland, on a date to be specified by government decree.

Inquiries

Inka Näkkäläjärvi, Senior Specialist, inka.nakkalajarvi(at)gov.fi, tel. +358 50 475 2740