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Universal Postal Convention

international treaty, 1874

Quick Summary

The Universal Postal Convention, established in 1874 and implemented in 1875, created the General Postal Union, later renamed the Universal Postal Union (UPU). This international treaty aimed to simplify and improve global postal services by forming a single territory for all signatory nations for postal communication and standardizing rates and weights.123

Before the convention, international mail was governed by numerous bilateral agreements, leading to complex accounting and high costs. The UPU, now a specialized agency of the United Nations, ensures the freedom of transit for mail and sets international postal charges, weight limits, and size conditions. While initially covering only letter mail, supplementary agreements have been added for services like parcel post.213

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