ARTICLE 102 Reports on the activities of the Committee 1. The Committee transmits to the Administrations, as information, an analytical report at the close of each session of the Committee. Moreover, the documents of each session are sent to the Administrations of the member countries of the Committee, to the restricted Unions, as well as to the other Administrations of the Union which request them. 2. The Committee makes a report to the Congress on all of its activities and transmits it to the Administrations at least two months before the opening of the Congress. CHAPTER II INTERNATIONAL BUREAU ARTICLE 103 Preparation of the agenda for Congresses and Conferences 1. The International Bureau prepares the agenda for Congresses and Conferences. It provides for the printing and distribution of the necessary documents. 2. The Director of the International Bureau attends the meetings of the Congresses and Conferences and takes part in the discussions, without the right to vote. ARTICLE 104 Information. Opinions. Requests for interpretation and modification of the Acts. Inquiries. Intervention in the settlement of accounts 1. The International Bureau must hold itself at all times at the disposal of the Executive and Liaison Committee and of the Administrations, in order to furnish them any necessary information on questions relating to the service. 2. It is charged especially with assembling, coordinating, publishing, and distributing information of all kinds of interest to the international postal service; with issuing, at the request of the interested parties, an opinion on questions in dispute; with acting upon requests for interpretation and modification of the Acts of the Union and, in general, with undertaking such studies and tasks of editing or of documentation as the Convention, the Agreements, and their Regulations may assign to it, or which may be entrusted to it in the interests. of the Union. 3. It likewise undertakes inquiries which are requested by Administrations with a view to ascertaining the opinion of the other Administrations on a certain question. The result of an inquiry does not assume the character of a vote, and does not bind formally. 4. It acts as a clearing-house for the settlement of all kinds of accounts pertaining to the international postal service between Administrations requesting such intervention. ARTICLE 105 Postage stamps and postage-paid impressions The Administrations transmit to one another, in triplicate, through the intermediary of the International Bureau, a collection of their postage stamps and specimen impressions of their stamping machines. ARTICLE 106 Postal identity cards. International reply coupons The International Bureau is charged with arranging for the manufacture of the postal identity cards and international reply coupons and with supplying them to the Administrations, upon request. ARTICLE 107 Communications and information to be transmitted to the 1. The Administrations must make known or transmit to the International Bureau: a) their decision with regard to the option of applying or not applying certain general provisions of the Convention and of its Regulations; b) the notation which they have adopted, by application of Article 182, Section 3, of the Regulations of the Convention, as equivalent of the expression Taxe perçue or Port payé (Postage collected or Postage paid); c) the reduced rates which they have adopted by virtue of Article 9 of the Convention and indication of the relations to which such rates are applicable; d) the extraordinary transportation charges collected by virtue of Article 80 of the Convention, as well as a list of the countries to which such charges apply and a designation of the services, if any, which give rise to their collection; e) the necessary information concerning their customs or other regulations, as well as the prohibitions or restrictions governing the importation and transit of mail matter in their services; f) the number of customs declarations, if any, required for articles subject to customs examination which are addressed to their countries, and the languages in which such declarations or Douane (Customs) labels may be drawn up; g) information as to whether or not they admit, in articles prepaid at the letter or sample rate, articles liable to customs duties; h) a list of distances in kilometers for the land routes followed in their countries by dispatches in transit; i) a list of the steamship lines whose ships leave their ports and are utilized for the conveyance of mails, with indication of the routes, distances, and time required for the transit between the port of embarkation and each of the successive ports of call, frequency of the service, and the countries to which the maritime transit charges must be paid in case the ships are utilized; j) their list of distant countries and countries considered as such; k) pertinent information concerning their organization and their domestic services; 1) their domestic postage rates. 2. Notice of any change in the information covered by Section 1 must be given without delay. 3. The Administrations must furnish the International Bureau two copies of the documents which they publish, both in regard to the domestic as well as the international service. 4. Two copies of the Acts of the restricted Unions and of the special Agreements concluded by application of the provisions of Article 9 of the Convention must be transmitted to the International Bureau by the Offices of such Unions, or, in lieu thereof, by one of the contracting Parties. ARTICLE 108 Publications 1. The International Bureau publishes, with the aid of the documents placed at its disposal, a special journal in German, English, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, French, and Russian. 2. It publishes, from the information furnished by virtue of the provisions of Article 107, an official digest of all information of general interest relative to the execution, in each country, of the Convention and its Regulations. 3. It also publishes similar digests relating to the execution of the Agreements from the information furnished by the Administrations concerned. 4. It likewise publishes, with the aid of the information furnished by the Administrations: a) a list of the countries, territories, etc., of the world with their geographic location; b) a list of the addresses of the Postal Administrations; c) a list of the chiefs and high officials of the Postal Administrations; d) a gazetteer of the post offices; e) a world map of surface postal communications (territorial and maritime transit) as well as an appendix mentioning the exchange offices and the countries for which they serve as intermediaries; f) a list of distances in kilometers pertaining to land routes; g) a list of steamship lines; h) a list of distant countries and countries considered as such; i) a table of equivalents; j) a list of prohibited articles; k) a digest of information concerning the organization and domestic services of the Administrations; 1) a digest of the domestic rates of the Administrations; m) statistical data of the postal services (domestic and international); n) a collection of postal studies; o) a general catalog of information of all kinds concerning the postal service and of the documents of the lending service (Catalog of the Universal Postal Union). 5. Modifications made in the various documents enumerated in Sections 2 to 4 are made known by circular, bulletin, supplement, or any other suitable means. 6. The documents published by the International Bureau are distributed among the Administrations in proportion to the number of contributive units assigned to each of them by application of Article 18 of the Convention. However, the gazetteer of the post offices is distributed at the rate of 10 copies per contributive unit. Additional copies of those documents which are requested by the Administrations are paid for separately, at cost price. 7. The documents published by the International Bureau are also transmitted to the restricted Unions. ARTICLE 109 Annual report on the activities of the Union The International Bureau makes up an annual report on the activities of the Union, which is transmitted to all the Administrations. This report must be approved by the Executive and Liaison Committee. CHAPTER III EXPENSES OF THE UNION ARTICLE 110 Limit of credit 1. The ordinary expenses of the Union must not exceed the sum of 1,300,000 francs per annum, including the operating costs of the Executive and Liaison Committee. 2. The Swiss Postal Administration makes the necessary advances and supervises the expenses of the Union. 3. The sums advanced by the Swiss Postal Administration, in accordance with Section 2, must be reimbursed by the debtor Administrations as soon as possible, and at the latest before the 31st of December of the year in which the account is sent. When that period has elapsed, the sums due bear interest, for the benefit of the said Administration, at the rate of 5% per annum, counting from the date of expiration of the said period. ARTICLE 111 Apportionment of the expenses The member countries are classified as follows with respect to the apportionment of the expenses: 1st class: Union of South Africa, Germany, United States of America, Argentine Republic, Commonwealth of Australia, United States of Brazil, Canada, China, Spain, France, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, India, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; 2d class: . 3d class: whole of the Territories of the United States of America, including the Territory of the Pacific Islands under Trusteeship, Belgium, Egypt, Algeria, whole of the Overseas Territories of the French Republic and Territories administered as such, whole of the British Overseas Territories, including the Colonies, Protectorates, and Territories under Trusteeship exercised by the Government of the United 30824-53-16 |