The project is about the software development and distribution (through the Google Play and Apple App stores) of a free mobile application for customers of the UPU’s global postal services. The application is used to securely capture well-formed electronic Customs declarations, and to speed-up the transmission of these declarations from the Post in the sending country to the Post and the Customs organization in the destination country (note: EAD stands for Electronic Advance Data).
Thanks to the mobile application and related IT infrastructure provided by the UPU, electronic declarations can be screened by Customs at destination before the mail item is physically shipped from abroad, which makes Posts compliant with the latest regulations worldwide, and providing a sustainable solution globally.
As of December 2021, Posts in 43 countries have adopted the application and made it available to their customers (the application targets specifically individual customers, and small and medium size businesses). The mobile application is the visible tip (for the customer) of a portfolio of IT solutions provided by the UPU which connects all actors in the postal supply chain (posts of origin and destination, Customs organizations, transport companies) and secures the speedy transmission of Postal data between them.
The mobile application improves both the quantity of Customs declarations collected electronically, and the quality of these declarations, which leads to faster and more efficient cross border clearance of postal parcels and packets through customs.
Note: at question 27 we can only select 38 countries from the list. The project covers additional 5 island economies/overseas territories that work as independent Postal Organizations (Anguilla, UK Overseas Territories - Bonaire, St. Eustatius, And Saba - Cayman Islands, UK Overseas Territories - Sint-Maarten - Turks and Caicos Islands, UK Overseas Territories). We therefore consider that the project covers 43 countries and territories.

https://www.upu.int/en/Postal-Solutions/Technical-Solutions/Products/EAD-mobile-app

• Afghanistan
• Antigua and Barbuda
• Azerbaijan
• Barbados
• Burundi
• Bangladesh
• Bahamas
• Bhutan
• Belize
• Comoros
• Cape Verde (Republic of)
• Djibouti
• El Salvador
• Fiji
• Guyana
• Iran (Islamic Republic of)
• Côte d'Ivoire
• Jamaica
• Lao People's Democratic Republic
• Mauritania
• Myanmar
• Pakistan
• Papua New Guinea
• Palestine
• Samoa
• Senegal
• Seychelles
• Sierra Leone
• Solomon Islands
• Sri Lanka
• Saint Lucia
• Sudan
• Suriname
• Tonga
• Tunisia
• United Republic of Tanzania
• Uzbekistan
• Vanuatu

• Youth
• Older persons
• Women
• Indigenous and nomadic peoples
• People with disabilities
• The unemployed
• The poor
• Migrants
• Refugees and internally displaced people
• Remote and rural communities
• Mobile application for any postal customer (individual or company) shipping international mail

UPU Mail processes are standardized worldwide. In addition, the UPU is active in establishing common standards with sectors involved in the postal supply chain: for this project, the World Customs Organization (WCO) for Customs processes.
The mobile application is designed to be a white-label, with easy customizations for each country, in particular to adapt to languages and to the local Postal Organization’s visual identity.
Requirements to collect and transmit well-formed electronic declarations for international Customs clearance are applicable worldwide and the project can naturally be replicated anywhere, beyond the 43 countries and territories deployed as of 12.2021. In 2022, the UPU continues working on this growth.
It must be noted that with the results achieved so far, the mobile application contributes to compliance not only for the 43 Posts that have made the application available to their customers, but for all destination Posts that receive mail from them: the impact is already felt worldwide.

The business case for this project is to reduce the cost of compliance for Postal Organizations. Compliance with Customs and transport security regulations represent a burden for Posts: a lot of data needs to be collected and transmitted quickly to different actors in the postal supply chain. Those are additional costs that Posts need to absorb, while at the same competing in a very dynamic E-commerce market.
The project aims at transferring part of the workload to postal Customers, who are now equipped to capture the data themselves with minimum effort. Preparation of the draft declarations by postal customers saves a lot of time at the Post Office counter, where the acceptance of a parcel to be shipped abroad can be a one-minute job instead of 5 minutes or more if the data needs to be keyed-in by the counter-clerk. This kind of savings makes the project very attractive for Posts that make the EAD Customs Declarations App available to their customers.
For the UPU, the project is sustained by a small yearly fee (CHF 500 or approximately USD 550) to each Post deploying the App nationally. The positive impact of the project is also felt by Customs organizations, who, thanks to the quantity and the quality of the data they receive, can automate customs processes, screen more postal items without increasing resources and staff, and can apply more accurate taxation for every postal item entering the country.

The UPU mission is to stimulate the lasting development of efficient and accessible universal postal services of quality in order to facilitate communication between the inhabitants of the word. In keeping with this mission, the project provides a technology accessible to all citizens, either from their personal mobile devices (smartphones, tablets), or when necessary from devices in post offices (provided as self-service kiosks). The project empowers the customers of postal services, for the data they key-in and hand over to their local Post: the mobile application transparently exposes to customers the type of data they need to provide for the execution of their international shipments. The project contributes to compliance regarding import and transport regulations (which are very demanding in terms of data) and at the same time places data security and privacy at its core: data gets transmitted through the secured private global postal IT network (Post*Net) managed by the UPU. The UPU configures and controls the dataflows and makes sure that each actor in the worldwide postal supply chain only accesses the data it needs for the performance of its duties. Lastly the project contributes to better detection and elimination of illegal goods that must not be shipped nor imported, either for security or for ethical reasons.