Collaboration with the World Customs Organization
The World Customs Organization (WCO) and the UPU have just signed a new memorandum of understanding. This agreement, aimed at taking greater account of the needs of international trade, recognizes the importance of a single postal territory, the universal postal service, and security measures for international mail transport networks. It represents another chapter in the collaboration between the two organizations which began in 1965. The last agreement, signed in 1994, was aimed at countering drug trafficking.
Customs is a vital link in the international mail processing chain, and the UPU strives to improve mail exchanges between countries by speeding up and simplifying the customs treatment of postal items. In 2005, the UPU estimated that some 43 million parcels had passed through the international service – an increase of 3.4 pct compared to 2004. By promoting the universal service, the UPU seeks to ensure that users of the postal service can send and receive goods and messages from point A to point B anywhere in the world.
