Final Protocol to the Universal Postal Convention

At the moment of proceeding to signature of the Universal Postal Convention concluded this day, the undersigned plenipotentiaries have agreed the following:

Article I

Ownership of postal items. Withdrawal from the post. Alteration or correction of address

1. The provisions in article 5.1 and 2 shall not apply to Antigua and Barbuda, Bahrain, Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Hongkong, China, Dominica, Egypt, Fiji, Gambia, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Overseas Dependent Territories of the United Kingdom, Grenada, Guyana, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nauru, New Zealand, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Saint Christopher and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Swaziland, Tanzania (United Rep.), Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu and Zambia.

2. Nor shall article 5.1 and 2 apply to Austria, Denmark and Iran (Islamic Rep.), whose internal legislation does not allow withdrawal from the Post or alteration of the address of correspondence, at the request of the sender, from the time when the addressee has been informed of the arrival of an item addressed to him.

3. Article 5.1 shall not apply to Australia, Ghana and Zimbabwe.

4. Article 5.2 shall not apply to Bahamas, Dem People's Rep. of Korea, Iraq and Myanmar, whose legislation does not permit withdrawal from the post or alteration of address of letter-post items at the sender's request.

5. Article 5.2 shall not apply to the United States of America.

6. Article 5.2 shall apply to Australia only in so far as that article is consistent with its domestic legislation.

7. Notwithstanding article 5.2, the Dem. Rep. of the Congo, El Salvador, Panama (Rep.), Philippines and Venezuela shall be authorized not to return postal parcels after the addressee has requested their clearance by Customs, since this is incompatible with those countries' customs legislation.

Article II

Charges

1. Notwithstanding article 6 the postal administrations of Australia, Canada and New Zealand shall be authorized to collect postal charges other than those provided for in the Regulations, when such charges are consistent with the legislation of their countries.

Article III

Exception to the exemption of literature for the blind from postal charges

1. Notwithstanding article 7, the postal administrations of Indonesia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Turkey, which do not concede exemption from postal charges to literature for the blind in their internal service, may collect the postage and charges for special services which may not, however, exceed those in their internal service.

2. Notwithstanding article 7, the postal administrations of Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Japan, Switzerland and United States of America may collect the charges for special services which are applied to literature for the blind in their internal service.

Article IV

Basic services

1. Notwithstanding the provisions of article 12, Australia does not agree to the extension of basic services to include postal parcels.

2. The provisions of article 12.2.4 shall not apply to Great Britain, whose national legislation requires a lower weight limit. Health and safety legislation in Great Britain limits the weight of mail bags to 20 kilogrammes.

Article V

Small packets

1. Notwithstanding article 12 of the Convention, the postal administration of Afghanistan shall be authorized to limit the maximum weight of inward and outward small packets to one kilogramme.

Article VI

Advice of delivery

1. The postal administration of Canada shall be authorized not to apply article 13.1.1, as regards parcels, given that it does not offer the advice of delivery service for parcels in its internal service.

Article VII

International business reply service (IBRS)

1. Notwithstanding article 13.4.1, the postal administration of Bulgaria (Rep.) shall provide the international business reply service after negotiations with the postal administration concerned.

Article VIII

Prohibitions (letter post)

1. Exceptionally, the postal administrations of Dem. People's Rep. of Korea and Lebanon shall not accept registered items containing coins, bank notes, securities of any kind payable to bearer, travellers' cheques, platinum, gold or silver whether manufactured or not, precious stones, jewels or other valuable articles. They shall not be strictly bound by the provisions of the Letter Post Regulations with regard to their liability in cases of theft or damage, or where items containing articles made of glass or fragile articles are concerned.

2. Exceptionally, the postal administrations of Bolivia, China (People's Rep.), excluding Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Iraq, Nepal, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Viet Nam shall not accept registered items containing coins, bank notes, currency notes or securities of any kind payable to bearer, travellers' cheques, platinum, gold or silver whether manufactured or not, precious stones, jewels or other valuable articles.

3. The postal administration of Myanmar reserves the right not to accept insured items containing the valuable articles listed in article 15.5, as this is contrary to its internal regulations.

4. The postal administration of Nepal does not accept registered items or insured items containing currency notes or coins, except by special agreement to that effect.

5. The postal administration of Uzbekistan does not accept registered or insured items containing coins, bank notes, cheques, postage stamps or foreign currency and shall accept no liability in cases of loss of or damage to such items.

6. The postal administration of Iran (Islamic Rep.) does not accept items containing articles contrary to the principles of the Islamic religion.

7. The postal administration of the Philippines reserves the right not to accept any kind of letter post (ordinary, registered or insured) containing coins, currency notes or securities of any kind payable to bearer, travellers' cheques, platinum, gold or silver, whether manufactured or not, precious stones or other valuable articles.

8. The postal administration of Australia does not accept postal items of any kind containing bullion or bank notes. In addition, it does not accept registered items for delivery in Australia, or items in transit à découvert, containing valuables such as jewellery, precious metals, precious or semi-precious stones, securities, coins or any form of negotiable financial instrument. It declines all liability for items posted which are not in compliance with this reservation.

9. The postal administration of China (People's Rep.), excluding Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, shall not accept insured items containing coins, bank notes, currency notes or securities of any kind payable to bearer and travellers' cheques in accordance with its internal regulations.

10. The postal administrations of Latvia and Mongolia reserve the right not to accept, in accordance with their national legislation, ordinary, registered or insured mail containing coins, bank notes, securities payable to bearer and travellers' cheques.

11. The postal administration of Brazil reserves the right not to accept ordinary, registered or insured mail containing coins, bank notes in circulation or securities of any kind payable to bearer.

12. The postal administration of Viet Nam reserves the right not to accept letters containing articles or goods.

Article IX

Prohibitions (postal parcels)

1. The postal administrations of Myanmar and Zambia shall be authorized not to accept insured parcels containing the valuable articles covered in article 15.6.1.3.1, since this is contrary to their internal regulations.

2. Exceptionally, the postal administrations of Lebanon and Sudan shall not accept parcels containing coins, currency notes or securities of any kind payable to bearer, travellers' cheques, platinum, gold or silver whether manufactured or not, precious stones or other valuable articles, or containing liquids or easily liquefiable elements or articles made of glass or similar or fragile articles. They shall not be bound by the relevant provisions of the Parcel Post Regulations.

3. The postal administration of Brazil shall be authorized not to accept insured parcels containing coins and currency notes in circulation, as well as any securities payable to bearer, since this is contrary to its internal regulations.

4. The postal administration of Ghana shall be authorized not to accept insured parcels containing coins and currency notes in circulation, since this is contrary to its internal regulations.

5. In addition to the articles listed in article 15, the postal administration of Saudi Arabia shall be authorized not to accept parcels containing coins, currency notes or securities of any kind payable to bearer, travellers' cheques, platinum, gold or silver, whether manufactured or not, precious stones or other valuable articles. Nor does it accept parcels containing medicines of any kind unless they are accompanied by a medical prescription issued by a competent official authority, products designed for extinguishing fires, chemical liquids or articles contrary to the principles of the Islamic religion.

6. In addition to the articles referred to in article 15, the postal administration of Oman does not accept items containing:

6.1 medicines of any sort unless they are accompanied by a medical prescription issued by a competent official authority;

6.2 fire-extinguishing products or chemical liquids;

6.3 articles contrary to the principles of the Islamic religion.

7. In addition to the articles listed in article 15, the postal administration of Iran (Islamic Rep.) shall be authorized not to accept parcels containing articles contrary to the principles of the Islamic religion.

8. The postal administration of the Philippines shall be authorized not to accept any kind of parcel containing coins, currency notes or securities of any kind payable to bearer, travellers' cheques, platinum, gold or silver whether manufactured or not, precious stones or other valuable articles, or containing liquids or easily liquefiable elements or articles made of glass or similar or fragile articles.

9. The postal administration of Australia does not accept postal items of any kind containing bullion or bank notes.

10. The postal administration of China (People's Rep.) shall not accept ordinary parcels containing coins, currency notes or securities of any kind payable to bearer, travellers' cheques, platinum, gold or silver, whether manufactured or not, precious stones or other valuable articles. Furthermore, with the exception of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, insured parcels containing coins, currency notes or securities of any kind payable to bearer and travellers' cheques shall not be accepted.

11. The postal administration of Mongolia reserves the right not to accept, in accordance with its national legislation, parcels containing coins, bank notes, securities payable to bearer and travellers' cheques.

12. The postal administration of Latvia does not accept ordinary and insured parcels containing coins, bank notes, securities (cheques) of any kind payable to bearer or foreign currency, and shall accept no liability in cases of loss of or damage to such items.

Article X

Articles subject to customs duty

1. With reference to article 15, the postal administrations of Bangladesh and El Salvador do not accept insured items containing articles subject to customs duty.

2. With reference to article 15, the postal administrations of Afghanistan, Albania, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dem People's Rep. of Korea, El Salvador, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Nepal, Peru, San Marino, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Venezuela do not accept ordinary and registered letters containing articles subject to customs duty.

3. With reference to article 15, the postal administrations of Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire (Rep.), Djibouti, Mali and Mauritania do not accept ordinary letters containing articles subject to customs duty.

4. Notwithstanding the provisions set out under 1 to 3, the sending of serums, vaccines and urgently required medicaments which are difficult to procure shall be permitted in all cases.

Article XI

Inquiries

1. Notwithstanding article 17.3, the postal administrations of Bulgaria (Rep.), Cape Verde, Chad, Dem. People's Rep. of Korea, Egypt, Gabon, Overseas Dependent Territories of the United Kingdom, Greece, Iran (Islamic Rep.), Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Rep., Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Zambia reserve the right to collect from customers charges on inquiries lodged in respect of letter-post items.

2. Notwithstanding article 17.3, the postal administrations of Argentina, Austria, Azerbaijan, Czech Rep. and Slovakia reserve the right to collect a special charge when, on completion of the investigation conducted in response to the inquiry, it emerges that the latter was unjustified.

3. The postal administrations of Afghanistan, Bulgaria (Rep.), Cape Verde, Congo (Rep.), Egypt, Gabon, Iran (Islamic Rep.), Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Suriname, Syrian Arab Rep., Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Zambia reserve the right to collect an inquiry charge from customers in respect of parcels.

4. Notwithstanding article 17.3, the postal administrations of Brazil, Panama (Rep.) and the United States of America reserve the right to collect a charge from customers for inquiries lodged in respect of letter-post items and parcels posted in countries which apply that type of charge in accordance with paragraphs 1 to 3 of this article.

Article XII

Presentation-to-Customs charge

1. The postal administration of Gabon reserves the right to collect a presentation-to-Customs charge from customers.

2. The postal administrations of Congo (Rep.) and Zambia reserve the right to collect a presentation-to-Customs charge from customers in respect of parcels.

Article XIII

Posting abroad of letter-post items

1. The postal administrations of Australia, Austria, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Greece, New Zealand and United States of America reserve the right to impose a charge, equivalent to the cost of the work it incurs, on any administration which, under the provisions of article 27.4, sends to it items for disposal which were not originally dispatched as postal items by their services.

2. Notwithstanding article 27.4, the postal administration of Canada reserves the right to collect from the administration of origin such amount as will ensure recovery of not less than the costs incurred by it in the handling of such items.

3. Article 27.4 allows the postal administration of destination to claim, from the administration of posting, appropriate remuneration for delivering letter-post items posted abroad in large quantities. Australia and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland reserve the right to limit any such payment to the appropriate domestic tariff for equivalent items in the country of destination.

4. Article 27.4 allows the postal administration of destination to claim, from the administration of posting, appropriate remuneration for delivering letter-post items posted abroad in large quantities. The following countries reserve the right to limit any such payment to the limits authorized in the Regulations for bulk mail: Bahamas, Barbados, Brunei Darussalam, China (People's Rep.), United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Overseas Dependent Territories of the United Kingdom, Grenada, Guyana, India, Malaysia, Nepal, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, New Zealand, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Thailand and United States of America.

5. Notwithstanding the reservations under 4, the following countries reserve the right to apply in full the provisions of article 27 of the Convention to mail received from Union member countries: Argentina, Austria, Benin, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire (Rep.), Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Guinea, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Mali, Mauritania, Monaco, Morocco, Norway, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Syrian Arab Rep. and Togo.

6. In application of article 27.4 the postal administration of Germany reserves the right to request the postal administration of the mailing country to grant compensation of the amount it would receive from the postal administration of the country of which the sender is resident.

7 Notwithstanding the reservations made under article XIII, China (People's Rep.) reserves the right to limit any payment for delivering letter-post items posted abroad in large quantities to the limits authorized in the UPU Convention and Letter Post Regulations for bulk mail.

Article XIV

Exceptional inward land rates

1. Notwithstanding article 34, the postal administration of Afghanistan reserves the right to collect an additional exceptional inward land rate of 7.50 SDR per parcel.

Article XV

Special tariffs

1. The postal administrations of Belgium, Norway and United States of America
may collect higher land rates for air parcels than for surface parcels.

2. The postal administration of Lebanon shall be authorized to collect for parcels up to 1 kilogramme the charge applicable to parcels over 1 and up to 3 kilogrammes.

3. The postal administration of Panama (Rep.) shall be authorized to collect 0.20 SDR per kilogramme for surface airlifted (S.A.L.) parcels in transit.

In witness whereof, the plenipotentiaries below have drawn up this Protocol which shall have the same force and the same validity as if its provisions were inserted in the text of the Convention itself, and they have signed it in a single original which shall be deposited with the Director General of the International Bureau. A copy thereof shall be delivered to each party by the International Bureau of the Universal Postal Union.

Done at Bucharest, 5 October 2004.