This week’s bulletin contains the latest information about Afghanistan, Australia, Chile, Macao, Morocco, New Caledonia, Panama, Samoa, Thailand, the United Kingdom and Vietnam.
Afghanistan
Start date: 25 August 2021
End date: 11 August 2022
Incident: postal operations – resumption
Further to information previously communicated, the designated operator of Afghanistan, Afghan Post, wishes to inform that its inbound and outbound international postal services have resumed as normal.
Afghan Post appreciates the patience shown by designated operators during the suspension of Afghanistan’s international postal services, and requests that they resume their postal services with Afghan Post as previously at their earliest convenience.
For further information, Ariana Afghan Airlines have resumed weekly flights to and from Dubai. Afghan Post assures all UPU member countries of its service quality in this regard.
Australia
Start date: 2020
End date: 1 August 2022
Incident: update – COVID-19 restrictions
Further to previous incident bulletins on the subject, the designated operator of Australia, Australia Post, wishes to inform that the processing of inbound letter and parcel items will resume as normal with effect from 1 August 2022.
Please note that outbound items are still being affected by COVID-19 restrictions.
Chile
Start date: 18 July 2022
End date: 9 August 2022
Incident: adverse weather conditions – back to normal
Further to Incident Bulletin 22.07.2022, the designated operator of Chile, CorreosChile, wishes to inform that the adverse weather conditions have subsided, allowing postal operations to resume as normal.
Macao
Start date: 20 June 2022
End date: 2 August 2022
Incident: end of state of immediate COVID-19 prevention
Further to previous incident bulletins on the subject, Macao Post, the People’s Republic of China’s designated operator for Macao, wishes to inform that the state of immediate prevention ended at 12.00 local time on Tuesday, 2 August 2022. All postal services are back to normal as of that date, including provision of written proof of delivery for inbound EMS items to personal addressees.
Morocco
Start date: 1 August 2022
End date: ongoing
Incident: delays in the customs clearance of international postal items
The designated operator of Morocco, Poste Maroc, wishes to inform that following the introduction of the new customs regulations provided for in International Bureau circular 115 of 4 July 2022, delays have been experienced in the customs clearance of international postal items since 1 August 2022. To facilitate the processing and clearance of international postal items containing goods destined for Morocco, designated operators must take all necessary steps to improve the quality and transmission of ITMATT data.
New Caledonia
Start date: 7 June 2022
End date: 17 August 2022
Incident: transportation issues and effect on inquiries – back to normal
Further to Incident Bulletin 10.06.2022, the Office of Posts and Telecommunications (OPT-NC), France’s designated operator for New Caledonia, wishes to inform that it is no longer experiencing transportation difficulties and that the situation has returned to normal with effect from 17 August 2022.
Panama
Start date: 30 December 2020
End date: ongoing
Incident: update on postal operations
Further to Incident Bulletin 15.04.2022, the designated operator of Panama (Rep.), Correos de Panamá, wishes to inform that, with effect from 1 September 2022, the operations of the office of exchange (PAPTYC) at Tocúmen International Airport will be relocated to the new facilities in Edificio No. 4 in Tocúmen International Airport cargo terminal.
Correos de Panamá confirms that it is able to continue to receive inbound mail destined for Panama. However, all mail dispatches should be delivered at the new facilities.
This office of exchange (PAPTYC) would primarily and exclusively be responsible for checking the conditions of inbound mail dispatches and distributing them to the corresponding office of exchange for processing, subject to their respective mail category.
Consequently, air dispatches destined for Panama should continue to be labelled as follows:
For LC/AO mail (air and S.A.L.): Label with IMPC code PAPTYA;
For postal parcels: Label with IMPC code PAPTYB;
For EMS items: Label with IMPC code PAPTYD.
No dispatches should be labelled with IMPC code PAPTYC until further notice.
Closed transit services for all categories of mail (LC/AO, postal parcels and EMS items) will continue to be suspended, however, owing to the restrictions imposed by air carriers.
Open transit services will continue to be limited for all categories of mail (LC/AO, postal parcels and EMS items). These services should be requested in advance, as they will be provided in accordance with the restrictions imposed by the air carriers, the cargo capacity available, the frequency of flights, and the destinations currently available.
Correos de Panamá asks all Union member countries and their designated operators to liaise with their carriers and/or airmail dispatch processing services regarding the delivery/handover of these dispatches at the new facilities. It will not assume any additional costs incurred in this regard (storage, transport, customs, etc.).
Samoa
Start date: 2020
End date: 1 August 2022
Incident: COVID-19 pandemic – lifting of state of emergency
Further to previous incident bulletins on the subject, the designated operator of Samoa, Samoa Post, wishes to inform that Samoa has lifted the state of emergency and that its international borders were reopened from 1 August 2022.
Thailand
Start date: 1 July 2021
End date: ongoing
Incident: COVID-19 pandemic – extension of state of emergency
Further to Incident Bulletins 08.04.2022, 16.07.2021 and 02.07.2021, the designated operator of Thailand, Thailand Post, wishes to inform that, although a number of measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 have been lifted and the curfew has ended, the Thai Government has extended the nationwide state of emergency in respect of the COVID-19 pandemic effective from 1 August 2022 until 30 September 2022.
United Kingdom
Start date: 26 August 2022
End date: ongoing
Incident: strikes
The designated operator of the United Kingdom, Royal Mail, wishes to provide following information on the one-day postal strikes called by the postal workers and that will affect postal deliveries from 4.00 on 26 and 31 August and 8 and 9 September 2022.
The following contingency plans are in place:
All mails for the UK should continue to be sent as normal.
For inbound air services, the London Air Mail Unit will be operational and will continue to accept and process all inbound arrivals;
For inbound road services, the International Logistics Centre (ILC), the Heathrow Worldwide Distribution Centre (HWDC) and Parcelforce Worldwide’s Coventry International Hub will all remain open and be fully operational.
Each of these sites will continue to carry out customs clearance and processing activities as usual.
The UK delivery operation will be affected on days when strike action is taking place. Despite the contingency plans, it will not be possible to replace the daily efforts of the entire frontline workforce. Royal Mail will do what it can to keep services running, but there will be significant disruption on the days of the strikes.
All Union member countries and designated operators should therefore expect to see some delays in items being delivered in the UK.
As regards exports from the UK, all Union member countries and designated operators will continue to receive export mails from Royal Mail Group, including Parcelforce, as usual. Export volumes may temporarily be lower, but arrivals will continue as normal.
Detailed, up-to-date information on services can be found at royalmail.com/latest-news.
Vietnam
Start date: 16 March 2020
End date: 1 August 2022
Incident: measures to minimize the spread of COVID-19 – back to normal
Further to Incident Bulletin 29.01.2021, the designated operator of Viet Nam, VNPost, wishes to inform that the COVID-19 situation in Viet Nam has improved sufficiently to allow the operations of VNPost to return to normal. The delivery of all inbound letter-post, parcel-post and EMS items will be carried out in strict compliance with the declared standards.
