UPU committees back international mail screening standards

The Universal Postal Union is edging closer to adopting a set of global security standards for international mail, after two years of development by its security group.

The UN-affiliated organisation of 192 postal administrations around the world said yesterday that its Council of Administration and its Postal Operations Council endorsed a proposed set of standards last week.

The standards could now be formally adopted at the UPU Congress in Qatar this September.

They would set minimum requirements for Posts around the world to screen their inbound and outbound international mail.

The UPU said the standards would reassure increasingly security-conscious civil aviation and customs organisations, setting a security baseline for the global postal network.

Harmonise

UPU postal security expert David Bowers said: “Our goal is to harmonise our international standards with the ones developed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation to guide air transportation of mail.”

The standards have been developed by the UPU’s inter-committee group on security, which includes representation from UPU member countries as well as organisations like the ICAO as well as the International Air Transport Association, World Customs Organisation and the US Transportation Security Administration.

The group was put together by the UPU following the discovery of explosives on two private courier jets destined for the US in late 2010.

The UPU adopted security standards back in 2008, but there was no obligation for members to implement the standards.