Regulatory Forums

The UPU organizes various regulatory forums to foster dialogue between its members and the wider postal sector on various postal policy and regulatory matters.

The UPU conferences on postal regulation have been a fixed feature of the organization’s Council of Administration (CA) meetings for several Congress cycles, and are now held twice a year. The 28th Congress mandated the UPU to organize six such conferences in the Dubai cycle.

In this cycle, all six conferences on postal regulation will be on the same general theme of postal sector reform. In the face of rapidly changing markets, technological advancement, evolving business models and increased competition, the general theme of postal sector reform captures the need for postal sector modernization, ensuring that its regulatory frameworks keep pace with major, transformative shifts.

This general theme will ensure continuity in discussions and consistency across the various conferences, ensuring that each conference builds further on the outcomes of the preceding one. Each conference will address a more specific policy or regulatory issue under the reform theme.

The first conference of the cycle was held on 5 May 2026 (S1) on the theme: “Beyond the mailbox: redefining the boundaries of the postal sector”. The conference speakers explored the criteria by which postal and delivery markets can be defined and their implications on the boundaries of the postal sector and regulatory oversight. 

Programme of the S1 conference on postal regulation

Summary of the S1 conference on postal regulation