Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 62 Part 3.djvu/695

 62 STAT.] MULTILATERAL-UNIVERSAL POSTAL UNION-JULY 5, 1947 3309 TITLE I. Universal Postal Union CHAPTER I. Organization and extent of jurisdiction of the Union. ARTICLE 1. Constitution and aims of the Union. 1. The countries between which the present Convention is con- cluded form, under the name of UniversalPostal Union, a single postal territory for the reciprocal exchange of correspondence. 2. The purpose of the Postal Union is to assure the organization Purpose. and improvement of the various postal services and to encourage in this sphere the development of international co-operation. ARTICLE 2. Relations with the United Nations. The Union is placed in relationship with the United Nations under the terms of the agreement whose text is appended to the present Convention. Po, p. 3342. ARTICLE 3. New adhesions. Procedure. 1. Any sovereign country may make at any time a request to adhere to the Convention. 2. The request for adherence is transmitted through diplomatic channels to the Government of the Swiss Confederation and by the latter to the members of the Union. 3. The country concerned is considered as admitted to membership if the request is approved by at least two thirds of the countries forming the Union. 4. The countries consulted which may not have replied in a period of four months are considered as having abstained. 5. The admission to membership is made known by the govern- ment of the Swiss Confederation to the Governments of all the coun- tries of the Union. ARTICLE 4. Convention and Agreements of the Union. 1. The regular-mail service is governed by the provisions of the Convention. 2. Other services, such as those of insured letters and boxes, parcel post, collect-on-delivery articles, money orders, postal checks, collec- tion orders, and subscriptions to newspapers and periodicals, form the subject of Agreements between countries of the Union. Such Agreements are binding only upon countries which have adhered to them.

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