UPU’s Postal Operations Council has approved specifications for the service, which will cover items up to 30kg in weight. The service is expected to feature track-and-trace capabilities and a five-business-day transit time from the moment an item reaches its destination country.
It will not come with a signature on delivery feature although consumers will be able to choose their preferred delivery option. The UPU’s Postal Operations Council also validated a product returns service that will make possible returns of unwanted goods to online merchants abroad.
From 2016, Posts involved in the new service will have to provide shipping information to customs authorities in advance, in order to improve customs clearance for ecommerce shipments. The UPU, which brings together the postal administrations from 192 member countries, has said online sales are on course to reach USD 1.5 trillion in value by the end of 2014. The UPU said Posts around the world processed 6.7 billion domestic parcels in 2013, 3.7% more than in 2012.
Cross-border parcels, including the small parcels passing through the letters stream, numbered around 300 million in 2013, said the UPU, up 5% on 2012.
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