Extra-Territorial Offices of Exchange,the USO and International Trade

Abstract

The authors make the following argument in this paper. Unless certain conditions are met, the bringing of foreign mail into a country under the Terminal Dues regime by Extra-Territorial Offices of Exchange (ETOEs) runs counter to the spirit of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and the Universal Service Obligation (USO). In addition, such activity raises questions about the integrity of observation of the rules of international trade by the countries hosting ETOEs, as well as destination countries. Fundamentally, the authors’ position is that the member states of the UPU have assumed the USO; the member states of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have assumed certain trade disciplines under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS); and ETOEs have wreaked havoc upon these regimes, which had otherwise been serving the world well. Finally, the authors contend that the dis-equilibrium wrought by ETOEs could be reversed if ETOEs were to be brought within the disciplines of the USO and the GATS.

The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not represent the views of Canada Post Corporation.