EMS Cooperative

The EMS Cooperative was created by the POC to develop EMS services. The EMS Cooperative promotes cooperation between postal organizations to allow them to provide customers with a high quality EMS service on a global basis.

Membership in the EMS Cooperative is voluntary. Nonetheless, more than 180 designated operators are now members.

EMS Cooperative Projects and Activities

Since its creation, the EMS Cooperative has strengthened the EMS product and developed a number of initiatives to assist members to improve their EMS service, including:

• EMS Operational Guide and online database
• Audit and Measurement Programme
• EMS Standard Agreement and Procedures
• EMS Standards for performance
• EMS Training
• EMS customer service system for international EMS inquiries

The EMS Cooperative is structured in 3 groups:

• the General Assembly, made up of all members of the EMS Cooperative
• the EMS Cooperative Board, composed of seven elected ad personam members, and
• the EMS Unit, the secretariat of the Cooperative, located at the International Bureau of the UPU in Berne, Switzerland.

When a designated operator has experienced an event or occurrence that is considered Force majeure, it must inform the International Bureau according to a specific process whose details are provided in the heading “Force Majeure” opposite.

Force majeure is an event or occurrence which prevents a designated operator to fulfil its obligations relating to quality of service or performance owing to reasons external to its control and which are not attributable to any act or failure of the designated operator.

In most cases this includes events such as war, acts of nature, destruction of facilities, and labour strikes.

When a designated operator experiences an event or occurrence that may be considered force majeure for letters, parcels or EMS, it must:

- Fill out the below form, Force majeure – Open case, with all required information

- Send it to the International Bureau within 24 hours of the event taking place by either fax +41 31 350 31 10 or e-mail. 

- When the event has ended, open the same document and fill in the second part of the form, Force majeure – Closed case, and send it as provided on the form.