Standardization
and the UPU
Importance, organization
and working areas
Akhilesh Mathur
Programme Manager,
Standards and Certification
Presentation subjects
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Why Standardization?
How is standardization organised within the UPU ?
Which UPU Standards exist ?
How to get access to Standards
The UPU and other standardization organisations
Are all Standards mandatory ?
How does the UPU assist with the
implementation/usage of Standards ?
Important Technical Standards
The Postal world is
changing
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Deregulation
Privatisation
Competition
Move from single operator to multi-operator environment
Customers get an increased choice
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of postal service providers
of services offered
The number of players in the market is increasing rapidly
Connecting
organisations/systems
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Universal Business
Adapters do not exist
Standards can take care
of this
When Standards are not
used……..
When Standards are not
used……..
When Standards are not
used……..
Standardisation, why?
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Improving the quality of postal services is the key
driver for it all
Mail Operations have to be:
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More reliable
Faster
Verifiable
Providing Track and Trace and other additional services
Make use of the latest available technology
NEED FOR STANDARDS
Automation is a driving force
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Electronic exchange of information
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Between Posts
With airlines
For Customs clearance
With Customers
Enable faster and more reliable processing
Connecting organizations by connecting technological
solutions
Scope of UPU activities
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Universal postal services as described in UPU Acts
Harmonization of international postal services
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Includes the development of new products
Inter-administration payment systems
Technical assistance to developing countries
Standardization of postal procedures/operations
The UPU is an intergovernmental
organisation
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The UPU does not interfere in matters that fall within
the domestic domain of national postal services.
For example, Posts set their own postage rates,
decide which and how many postage stamps to issue,
and how to manage their postal operations and staff
The 2004 Bucharest
Congress
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Modified the main structure of the
Union
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COUNCIL OF ADMINISTRATION
 Regulatory matters
POSTAL OPERATIONS COUNCIL
 Postal operational Matters
NEW: CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE
 Stakeholder view on the
postal industry
 Private sector participation
The UPU is changing
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With the creation of the Consultative Committee,
stakeholder participation for the UPU as a whole is a
new and very encouraging development
Ensures active participation of Customers, Suppliers,
Industry players of the Postal industry
New for the UPU…but not for the Standardization
activities of the UPU
UPU Standardization activities have always taken
place in an open environment
The UPU Standards Board
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Single coordination and approval authority within the
UPU for all international postal standards
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Detailed process for Standards development and approval
Publication and distribution of standards
Meets 4 times per year
Part of the Postal Operations Council
7 Permanent Working Groups, ensuring coherent
development of standards in particular areas
Working Groups
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Physical Encoding Group (PEG)
Electronic Exchange Group (EXG)
Data and Code definition Group (DCG)
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Code Allocation and Maintenance Group (CAM)
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IATA/UPU Group on EDI
Customs Data Interchange Group (CDIG)
Publications Editorial Board (PEB)
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Project groups for individual topics
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Standards Board Composition
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Posts:
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Chair: USA
Members: Australia, China (People's Rep.), Côte d’Ivoire
(Rep.), Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Iran
(Islamic Rep.), Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, New
Zealand, Pakistan, Portugal, Sweden, Tanzania (United
Rep.)
Other participating organisations:
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International Post Corporation (IPC)
CEN
Standards Board Composition
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Other organisations may participate (with observer
status). Any organisation that
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has a strong international character
has a relationship with the postal industry
is a representative organisation for a particular industry
and/or large geographic/economic area
Standards development
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Any interested party (UPU member or not) can submit
proposals
Standards Board ensures coordination with relevant
parties
Typically, proposals are submitted by:
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Standards Board permanent working groups
Other bodies within the UPU
International project teams working on a specific topic
Industry interest groups
Standards Approval
Process
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Process that ensures
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Coordination of proposals for standards
Formal process to come to the adoption of Standards
Detailed process from initial idea to fully accepted UPU
standard
4 stages, each stage to obtain a particular status
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Status P - Proposal for New Work Item
Status 0 - Working Draft
Status 1 - Draft Standard
Status 2 - Approved UPU Standard
(Status S - Superseded)
(Status W - Withdrawn)
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Almost doubled the number of standards
since the 1999 Beijing Congress
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From 59 Standards in 1999 to about 110
Standards today:
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67 Technical Standards
43 Messaging Standards
All published standards are at various levels within
the Approval Process
Standards have to be really used
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Standards Approval Process requires practical usage
of Standards
Status 0 can only be obtained if a number of
organizations commit to testing/using the Standard
Status 1 can only be obtained if the Standard has
been used, and test results show the effectiveness of
the Standard.
Impossible to get a standard published that is not
actually used
Standards Policy
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Facilitate, not regulate
Use whenever possible existing international
standards
Support variety of regulatory frameworks
Take into account move for openness within the UPU
Continue to be enabling for any regulatory
developments
Standards development in an
open environment
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The UPU is a standard-setting body for the postal industry, just
as other bodies that are active in their fields:
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IATA for the airline industry
WCO for Customs organisations
ITU for Telecommunications
UPU follows an open Standards Development Strategy, like
CEN, ANSI, ISO
Standards have to be developed in an open environment, which
allows active participation of all interested parties
All the results, and all the intermediary information has to be
publicly available
Availability of documentation
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All documentation/proposals of the Standards Board
and its working groups are publicly available:
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http://www.upu.int/standards/en/index.shtml
All final results are also available for any interested
party: The UPU Standards Publications
Publication of Standards
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UPU Technical Standards
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UPU EDI Messaging Standards
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Comprehensive publications of all
postal standards developed by
or in cooperation with the UPU
Available in paper and CD-ROM version
Multi workstation licences as well as
single Standards also available
Which Standards ?
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A wide variety of Standards exist, and the number is
steadily growing
Now more than 110 Standards, covering different
areas:
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Mail (various products)
Financial Services
Electronic Services
Mail Related Standards
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Identification/codification of postal items, collections of mail,
mail processing facilities, etc.
Bar coding applications (id tagging, franking marks, etc.)
Interfaces between Mailers/Posts (EDI messages,Tracking
&Tracing capabilities, etc.)
Addressing standards
Examples: EMS barcode labels
Examples: 2D Franking Marks
and ID tags
Royal Mail
1st Class
AB1XY A1B2C D3E4 567890 : 24/06/99 : £00.26
70
80
90
Examples: Usage of envelope space
40
90
Area F3
Area R2
10
60
20
70
UPU Standards Board
CH 3000 Berne 15
SWITZERLAND
30
80
50
60
Area F2
0
50
Area F1
40
30
20
10
0
40
50
30
60
20
70
Area R1
10
80
0
150 140 130 120 110 100 90
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90 100
110 120 130
140 150
Financial Services
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Standardised EDI message for the exchange of
International Money Order information
Standardised Identification system for Money orders
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Based on the ISO License plate standard
Standardised Identification
of Financial Institutions
Electronic Services
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Electronic Postmark (EPM)
Physical or electronic
delivery of messages
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e-Commerce
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“.post” domain name
Are UPU Standards Mandatory ?
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In principle: No
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They are recommended practices
Have to prove their usefulness, otherwise they will be
ignored
Rules are such that it is impossible to have a UPU Standard
that is not used in practice
In some cases: Yes
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Vital for functioning of international postal operations
Then reference included in UPU regulations
 Regulations are mandatory
 Detailed specifications still published as a standard
Are Standards Mandatory ?
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Some are mandatory for the entire UPU membership:
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S34: Identification/codification of International mail Processing Centres
(Exchange Offices)
EETLLA
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(TALLINN PI-2)
Some are mandatory, if used at all:
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S18: International ID tag
Are Standards Mandatory ?
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Some will only work if adhered to:
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All EDI messaging standards
Some create loss of effectiveness if not adhered to:
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Item identification standards
Other standardisation organisations
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UPU cooperates with a variety of organisations:
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International Air Transport Organisation: IATA
World Customs Organisation: WCO
International Organisation for Standardisation: ISO
International Telecommunication Union: ITU
European Committee for Standardisation: CEN
…
Cooperation with airlines
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Electronic preadvising of mail
Electronic message from Airlines informing about the
Status of shipments
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Scanning of standardized
Postal receptacle labels
Cooperation with Customs
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Customs
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Electronic Customs Declaration
Electronic Customs Response message
Goal: Electronic Customs Clearance
Other Cooperation
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ISO
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Country, Region and Currency codes
License Plate Standard for the identification of transport
Units
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United Nations
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UN/LOCODE
 5 character unique id for locations
 Basis for the identification of Offices of Exchange
– 6-character Code
– Standard S34
The UPU and CEN
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2 groups, 2 backgrounds:
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UPU Standards Board: Specialised body within the
UPU for Postal Standards
CEN TC 331: Special Technical Committee for
European Standards in postal services
Overlap for particular standards under
development
RISK: Conflicting standards
OPPORTUNITY: Use synergies between
organisations to come to best possible standards
Current situation
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CEN work is mostly driven by the EC
UPU work is driven by individual initiatives
Wide CEN/UPU cooperation for a considerable
number of subjects
Cooperation enshrined in a joint Memorandum of
Understanding
Together ensuring the best postal standards
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for Europe
Worldwide
For all parties involved in postal services
Main topics covered in the MoU
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Establishment of a Contact Committee:
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Enable agreement coordination and cooperation before
either CEN or UPU creates standards within internal process
Standardization procedures: Process to allow joint
final approval of standards
Publication procedures: Process to allow publication of
standards
Role of the Contact Committee
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Consult on (intended) new work items
Establish interest of respective organisations
Coordinate/agree
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Information exchange through liaison status
Leadership development
End products
Project plan
Timelines
Ensure coordination and cross-fertilisation
Genuine involvement of both organisations
A fruitful cooperation
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Standardization within the UPU and CEN: Different
backgrounds, different financing
CEN historically has a strong participation of private
industry
UPU historically has a world-wide coverage of postal
operators
UPU and CEN jointly ensure that the best
standards are created for the postal industry
The UPU assists with Standards
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The UPU provides assistance with the introduction of
Standards
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Guidance by specialists for the various postal products
 Letter mail
 Parcel Post
 EMS
 Electronic Services
Regional Advisors
Network with postal experts world-wide
regarding new technologies
Specialised departments to provide
applications/tools
 Postal Technology Centre (PTC)
 Logistics Department
Applications/tools available
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Barcode labels
World-wide Postal
Network: POST*Net
Mail Management
Software
International Financial Services Software
Development of new working areas for the Posts:
electronic services
Mail Management Software
packages: IPS & IPS Light
The primary functions of the PTC’s mail management
software IPS and IPS Light are to:
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Track and trace mail items (EMS, Letters and parcels)
Automate their entire (outbound and inbound) administrative
mail handling process with the support of EDI messages.
Generate UPU documents and reports
 Today about 100 postal administrations have installed
one of the PTC solutions for Mail management
Mail Management Software
packages: IPS & IPS Light
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IPS is designed to postal organizations with a large
volume of mail. It possesses a number of advanced
features including an accounting module and an
Internet site allowing users to track their despatches
IPS Light is the light version of IPS which is designed
for Posts with low to medium mail volumes and a
modest IT infrastructure. All that is required is a simple
computer and an Internet connection
International Financial software
packages: IFS & STEFI
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The IFS network is the financial money order transfer
network of the UPU. It is composed by all the postal
administrations using a PTC application for the
exchange and management of electronic money
orders with their business partners.
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The network is reliable, cheap, fast, available, accessible,
and
highly secure
 Today 30 postal administrations are using one of the
PTC application to transfer money orders.
International Financial software
packages: IFS & STEFI
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IFS is designed for postal organizations either
completely lacking a money order management
system or whose existing system is not adapted to
processing international electronic money orders.
STEFI (Secured Transfer of Electronic Financial
Information) is designed for postal organisation
already possessing a domestic electronic system
but wishing to join the IFS network of the UPU.
Electronic services
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Postal sector can play a key role in the Information
Society
New products/services based on new technologies use
Post’s extensive physical network
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Electronic Postmark (EPM)
Physical or electronic
delivery of messages
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e-Commerce
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“.post” domain name
Developed and promoted within
the Postal Technology Centre
RFID Standards-1
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S20-3: Identification and marking using Radio Frequency
Identification Technology: Reference architecture and
terminology
S22-3: Identification and marking using Radio Frequency
Identification Technology: Reference architecture and
terminology: System requirements and test procedures
RFID Standards-2
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Radio Data Capture
(RDC) SystemsAir interfaces: Communications and interfaces
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S23a-2 Definitions of parameters to be standardized
S23b-1 Parameter values for 5.8 GHz RFID Systems
S23c-1 Parameter values for 2.45 GHz Narrow Band RFID
Systems
S23g-1 Parameter values for 13.56 MHz Band RFID
Systems
S 42-5: International postal address components and
templates
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The standard is based upon a comprehensive list of
name and address elements
These elements define the smallest meaningful parts
of names and addresses
The set of elements has been sufficient to represent
names and addresses in a number of non-European
countries, including the US
Status of S42-5
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UPU S42, was approved at:
Status 0 in November 2002
Status 1 in February 2004
Last version of the standard S42-5 was approved in February
2006. In response to CEN request, S42 was divided, in this
version, into a stable and non-country specific Part A and a Part
B containing all country specific information as well as
considerations regarding element mapping, template design,
and rendition rules.
S43-2: The Digital PostMark
An Digital Post Mark (DPM) provides evidence of:
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Who signed the document / transaction
What was signed
When it was signed
Plus Storage and Archival of this evidence for as many years
as required
Standard S43-2 Digital PostMark (DPM) interface
Standardization Status of the DPM
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S43 interface protocol was approved and given
“Status 0” by the UPU in January 2003
The updated S43 protocol was approved for UPU
“Status 1” on Oct 20, 2003
UPU DPM interface protocol jointly developed by 10
postal administrations
DPM is a Postal Service
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A regulated UPU Postal service – Adopted by
2004 UPU Congress as an official optional
postal service
DPM is a Postal Service
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Microsoft Office 2007 – views DPM as
key strategic elements to its Trustworthy
Computing Campaign (by having Posts
serve as trusted third parties worldwide).
An S43 Office 2007 plug-in will be
launched in 2007
Adobe – Wants to bundle UPU S43 with
Acrobat and Acrobat Reader
Future orientations
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Areas suitable for certification will be identified, and the relevant
procedures and checklists enabling certification will be
developed.
Automation of operating and accounting procedures. This is a
strategic project with long-term implications for the UPU.
The International Bureau and the Standards Board will continue
to press for the adoption of standards by members. Possible
revisions to the Regulations to facilitate this objective are being
examined.
Conclusion
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Standards are crucial for the future of the Post
The UPU is the worldwide standard-setting
body for the postal sector
The UPU cooperates closely with all important
players in the postal industry
Everybody is invited to actively participate
Thank you for
your attention!
Contact: akhilesh.mathur@upu.int
Tel: +41 31 350 3164
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or
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