Universal Postal Congress 1939

XI. Universal Postal Congress
Venue	Buenos Aires , Palais du Conseil municipal, Argentina
Period	April 1 to May 23, 1939
Participating countries	80
Delegates	141 + 33 attachés

The eleventh Universal Postal Congress took place from April 1 to May 23, 1939 in Buenos Aires . The renewed contract was signed on May 23, 1939 and summarized the provisions on the airmail service as an annex to the main contract and the postal package agreement. Apart from simplifying the traffic, its results were not of major importance. They came into force on July 1, 1940, when the Second World War had paralyzed a large part of the universal mail traffic.

The contracts have not been drawn by the German delegation, as in the preambles that Czechoslovakia has been listed as an existing state. The background was the invasion of the Czech Republic a few weeks earlier (" smashing the rest of the Czech Republic ") and the formation of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia . Without the signature of Germany and the administrations that followed this behavior (Italy, Spain, Hungary, Vatican), the treaty would have to remain a fragment. However, the resolutions retained their significance because the intergovernmental postal service, regardless of the basis on which a final settlement was made, only took place on the basis of the regulations.

activities

In seven busy weeks, the Universal Postal Agreement , the subsidiary agreements and the executive regulations were reviewed on the basis of the proposals submitted by the individual administrations that belong to the Universal Postal Union, and the new contractual texts discussed and approved.

The first working session of the Congress took place on April 3rd. She was initially by the doyen of Congress, Ministerialdirektor ret. D. Orth, headed. At his suggestion, the Director General of the Argentine Postal and Telegraph Administration, Dr. Escobar was unanimously elected President of the Congress, as Vice-President the Director of the Argentine Post Tula and the Director of the Office of the Universal Postal Union Dr. Reinhold Furrer . In his opening speech, Escobar particularly emphasized the unifying importance of the post office and referred to the merits of Heinrich von Stephan , Rowland Hill and Montgomery Blair . The first day of the meeting was then devoted to the resolution on the rules of procedure and the election of the presidents of the individual commissions. At the proposal of the doyen, the following were unanimously elected:

1st Commission: Universal Postal Treaty , Implementing Regulations of the WP Treaty and Airmail Regulations (Letters); the chief of the British delegation Lidbury

2. Commission: Value and parcel agreements together with enforcement regulations, airmail provisions (parcels); the chief of the French delegation Quenot,

3. Commission: Postal order, postal transfer, postal order and newspaper agreements together with enforcement regulations; the head of the German delegation Ministerialdirektor Ziegler

4. Editorial Committee; the head of the Belgian delegation Schockaert

In the rules of procedure it was decided that sub-commissions could be set up for the first three main commissions. However, this was only used in the first commission. This sub-commission was chaired by the Dutch MP Duynstee. Furthermore, proposals received after the publication of the main proposal books by the UPU office no later than the fifth day after the first full session of the Congress will only be admitted to discussion if they have the support of at least two delegations. After this point in time, it was only possible to submit proposals that concerned an amendment or addition to earlier proposals or purely editorial changes submitted to the fourth editorial committee. Only those proposals that had been rejected in the commission meetings could be accepted in the plenary sessions.

The newly established Presidential Committee should serve to accelerate and prepare the work of the Congress. This committee included the presidents of the four main commissions and the sub-commission of the first commission, the director of the UPU office and a representative of the Argentine delegation. In several cases, the Presidential Committee discussed questions of particular factual and tactical difficulty before they were discussed in the commissions or in the plenary meetings.

The following questions, which are of greater importance, were discussed:

1. The question of colonial votes has already been discussed at previous congresses and so there was a lengthy debate in Buenos Aires. England had applied for a colonial vote and Italy had also requested a second colonial vote for its East African possessions. The South American countries spoke out against the colonial votes and, as at previous congresses, demanded the abolition of these colonial votes. However, the majority of the Congress declared itself in favor of maintaining the colonial votes and voted for the motions of England and Italy.
2. Fee question: In accordance with the proposals of the Netherlands and Sweden, gold franc fees have generally been reduced by around 20%. For letters in the first face level, 20 centimes are now valid instead of 25, and 12 instead of 15 centimes for each additional weight level. A simple postcard 12 instead of 15, postcard with reply card 24 instead of 30. Mail for the blind 2 instead of 3. The special fees, e.g. B. for the issuance of a postal ID card, the customs postage fee, the fee slip fee, the inquiry fee, etc. have been reduced accordingly. The lowering of the fees was particularly supported by the countries that devalued their currencies and, as a result, their letter fees often fell below the lower voltage limit. In the justification for the applications, it was particularly emphasized that, with regard to the postage fees, it was primarily a question of providing a legal basis for an actual situation. A real reduction in the fees to be levied for letters had not occurred in these countries in comparison to the internal purchasing power of their currencies and was also not intended.
3. Special provisions for airmail shipments without surcharge. Several administrations had worked out proposals by means of which the resolutions of the European Airmail Conference in Brussels in 1938 were to be incorporated in an adapted form into the airmail provisions of the Universal Postal Treaty. The proposals are mainly from non-European countries (USA, British India and Japan) on the grounds: “That the Brussels resolutions would only have regional (European) significance and, given the development of the airmail service in non-European countries and their special conditions, none Interest in a regulation in the Universal Postal Treaty would have “been rejected. It should be noted that each association country would have been free to join this subsidiary agreement, if at least the European countries could have implemented the agreement.
4. Appointment of a special technical commission for the question of the transit fee: Various proposals were made for a new regulation of the transit fee, including a reduction in the price and a simplification of the investigation procedure. It was decided to transfer these transit issues to a special commission. This commission met once after the end of the congress and worked out a questionnaire that should have been answered by the respective administrations by October 1, 1939 at the latest , but this did not come about when the Second World War broke out on September 1. It was originally planned that the report of the commission would be examined and discussed at a special congress in Rome in 1942 before the next Universal Postal Congress.
5. Preparatory Commission. Proposals have been submitted by Denmark, Poland and Sweden aimed at improving and shortening the Congress negotiations. These proposals were withdrawn before they were discussed in favor of a new Community proposal to reinstate the Preparatory Commission. This question was already discussed in Cairo.

literature

• Concise dictionary of the postal system :
  • 2nd Edition; 1953: p. 780
  • 1st supplement to the 2nd edition; 1956: Erwin Müller-Fischer: Timeline for the history of the postal system
• History of the Deutsche Post
  • Volume 3: History of the Deutsche Reichspost 1871 to 1945 by Karl Sautter ; Federal Printing Office; Frankfurt; 1951
• Archive for German Postal History (Ed .: German Society for Postal and Telecommunications History ):
  • Marc Moser: 100 years of the Universal Postal Union; Part 1 in volume 1/1974 and part 2 in volume 1/1975
• Poppe: The Universal Postal Congress of Buenos Aires 1939
  • in: Die Deutsche Post ( Deutsche Verkehrs-Zeitung ), Berlin, Georg Koenig, 1939, issue 29, p. 861
  • in: Postarchiv, Berlin, 1941, issue 3; Pp. 216-229

Individual evidence

1. ^ Karl Sautter: History of the Deutsche Post - Part 3 - History of the Deutsche Reichspost 1871 to 1945; P. 293
2. ^ Postrat Poppe: The Universal Postal Congress of Buenos Aires 1939 ; in: The Deutsche Post - weekly for the postal and telecommunications system; 63rd year; Berlin, July 22, 1939, No. 29; P. 864
3. ↑ Concise dictionary of the postal system; 1st supplement to the 2nd edition; P. 193
4. ^ Postrat Poppe: The Universal Postal Congress of Buenos Aires 1939 ; in: The Deutsche Post - weekly for the postal and telecommunications system; 63rd year; Berlin, July 22, 1939, No. 29; P. 861
5. ^ Postrat Poppe: The Universal Postal Congress of Buenos Aires 1939 ; in: The Deutsche Post - weekly for the postal and telecommunications system; 63rd year; Berlin, July 22, 1939, No. 29; P. 862