The Universal Postal Union, a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates postal policies and sets the rules for international mail exchanges among member nations, in its plenary meeting last week has officially endorsed Ecommerce Europe as a member of their Consultative Committee. Ecommerce Europe is now well placed to represent the interests of the wider postal sector concerning future developments in up-to-date products and services related to e-commerce using the Consultative Committee for effective dialogue between stakeholders.

Why join now?

Ecommerce Europe joins the Universal Postal Union (UPU) Consultative Committee at a time of fundamental changes in the global, cross‎-border postal network. For the UPU, e-commerce is one of the leading areas of future growth and development. New services and products are being developed, integrating Customs and Payment solutions in close cooperation with the wider postal stakeholder community represented through the Consultative Committee to the regulatory, legislative and operational bodies of the UPU. The year 2016 will see UPU's 26th Congress in Istanbul, setting the path for 2020 and beyond. Ecommerce Europe will advocate for the interests of the e-commerce sector, in order to further enhance integrated cross-border parcel delivery services in Europe and world-wide as well.

Better interoperability needed for e-commerce

During the plenary meeting of 4 November, which Walter Trezek attended on behalf of Ecommerce Europe, the UPU discussed that a greater role is needed for relevant stakeholders in its discussions. Especially the postal sector’s consumers, like online retailers, should be able to help shape the discussions by reflecting on what they need from the postal sector to improve cross-border delivery services. The UPU rightfully noted that consumers and business users of postal and related delivery services favour a seamless, interconnected cross-border service. Where the UPU product and service portfolio is already built on the principles of neutrality and single postal territory, deeper interconnection and interoperability is needed, especially with other providers in the value chain.

Next steps

Ecommerce Europe will continue to be an active member of the Consultative Committee, starting with the coming meetings in February and March 2016. For this we will collect input from our members as well. 

For a detailed report of the November meeting, please contact Team Brussels.For more information about Ecommerce Europe’s priorities for a better policy landscape that fosters e-commerce growth, please see the Ecommerce Europe Priority Paper (2015).