The Union Cabinet has approved the ratification of amendments to the Constitution of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) as contained in the Eleventh Additional Protocol to the Constitution signed during the 27th Congress of the Universal Postal Union held at Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire).
Details –
- The approval enables the Department of Posts, Government of India to have the “Instrument of Ratification” signed by the Hon’ble President of India and have the same deposited with the Director General of the International Bureau of the Universal Postal Union.
- This would fulfil the obligations arising from Article 25 and 30 of the UPU Constitution which provides for ratification of the amendments to the Constitution adopted by a Congress as soon as possible by the member countries.
About the ‘Universal Postal Union’ –
- The Universal Postal Union (UPU) was established by the Treaty of Bern of 1874.
- It is second oldest international organisation worldwide after International Telecommunication Union (ITU) which was established in 1865.
- It is a specialised agency of the United Nations (UN) that coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to the worldwide postal system.
- The UPU contains four bodies consisting of the Congress, the Council of Administration (CA), the Postal Operations Council (POC) and the International Bureau (IB). It also oversees the Telematics and Express Mail Service (EMS) cooperatives.
- The UPU’s headquarters are located in Bern, Switzerland.
- It has 192 member states. India joined the UPU on July 1, 1876.
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