This version of the Universal Postal Convention was adopted at the Doha round of the UPU Congress on 11 October 2012.

The most significant changes are to terminal dues and country classifications, and the quality of service fund.

Terminal dues: Terminal dues are the payment by postal operators in an origin country to a postal operator in a destination country for the delivery of mail across borders. Since the 1999 Beijing Congress, there have been two terminal dues regimes: one for developing countries (the “transitional system”) and one for developed countries (the “target system”). The 2012 Congress reaffirmed the move from a dual terminal dues system to a unified, cost-related terminal dues system. The Congress also reaffirmed the timing by which countries move to the unified system.

The 2012 decisions also made a number of other changes to the postal system, including increasing prices to take into account global consumer price index increases, and introducing differentiated pricing for heavier items. NZ accepted a compromise proposal which leads us to pay higher terminal due rates to some countries, and in some instances lower rates. Overall, the 2012 decisions around terminal dues represent a marginal net increase in costs for NZ Post of around NZ$240,000 per annum. This cost is not considered to be material for NZ Post's international business as a whole.

Quality of Service Fund: The Quality of Service Fund (QSF) was implemented in 2001 and finances projects aimed at improving the quality of inbound letter-mail flows. The Doha Congress was asked to extend the QSF beyond the original cessation date of December 2016 through to December 2020. In recognition that transition to the target system for a number of countries would require support in terms of further work on quality-enhancement projects, extending the QSF programme was approved.

Overall, while New Zealand will face additional costs through the extension of the fund to further years, this effect is counteracted by some countries such as China and Brazil moving out of the transitional system and no longer receiving funding from the QSF. The total effect of the QSF changes is estimated to be a $35,000 annual saving for New Zealand relative to the previous system.

Other changes: 

• Postage stamps: requirements for countries using new materials and/or technologies on postage stamps to inform the UPU’s International Bureau.
• Security standards: changes were made to postal security obligations recognising and adopting the new UPU security standards strategy.
• Processing of personal data: a new article was added to represent a series of statements enshrining the protection of personal privacy within the UPU Convention.
• Classification of letter-post items: a new article has been added to the Convention classifying letter-post items based on their format.
• Supplementary services: various supplementary services were abolished, and some new services were approved.
• Electronic postal services: new definitions of electronic postal services and minimum characteristics of the services.
• Customs control: a minor technical change to allow compliance with the European code.
• Liability of Designated Operators/Indemnities: various small changes to the liability of operators and addressees to reflect the growth in cross-border
  e-commerce. Changes also addressed the need to allow designated operators to align their procedures with those of commercial operators.
• Basic rates and provisions concerning air conveyance dues: changes to make it possible to create a low air conveyance rate for merchandise returns.
• International merchandise returns: the Postal Operations Council has been given more powers to set rates for international merchandise returns.
• Letter-Post Regulations and Parcel Post Regulations: the Postal Operations Council has amended the regulations for Letter-Post and Parcel Post. These amendments include editorial and grammatical changes, and technical changes to forms.

New Zealand made two new reservations in the Final Protocols and renewed three existing reservations:

• The first reservation confines any exemption for postage in the international service for items sent by, to, or from blind people or related institutions, to the exemptions, if any, offered in the domestic service. This reservation continues established domestic practice. New Zealand currently exempts items such as cassettes, magazines, CDs, talking book machines, braille books, and canes from postal charges.
• The second reservation requires designated operators in origin countries to gain agreement from other postal administrations where mail bears stamps constructed with (new) materials or technologies that are not compatible with automated processing equipment.
• New Zealand also renewed three reservations in the Final Protocol which were in place following the 2008 Congress. These relate to ownership of postal articles, withdrawal from the post alteration or correction address, charges, and posting abroad of letter-post items.

Conclusion: It is important to note that the new obligations have already been put into effect by NZ Post and the company will bear the financial costs associated with the changes.