Colombia
The designated operator of Colombia, Servicios Postales Nacionales S.A. 4-72, informs other that, through Decree 749 of 28 May 2020, the Colombian government extended mandatory preventative isolation until midnight of 1 July 2020. As an essential service, however, the postal service is currently exempt from restrictions on movement, although this could change in the future. Servicios Postales Nacionales S.A. 4-72 will continue to provide domestic and international services in line with the latest developments regarding COVID-19.
In addition, Servicios Postales Nacionales S.A. 4-72 wishes to inform that:
- The previously communicated measures affecting operations will remain in place, and will continue to cause significant delays to all inbound and outbound international letter-post, parcel- post and EMS items.
- Operational staff shifts will remain in place, and administrative staff will continue to work remotely, but will gradually resume on-site work on a shift basis and with flexible working hours.
- Owing to the continuation of force majeure, the cancellation of international flights, the closure of borders, and the internal measures taken by countries and their designated operators, Servicios Postales Nacionales S.A. 4-72 is currently unable to send letter-post, parcel-post and EMS items to various member countries. For more information, please go to www.4-72.com.co/ .
Servicios Postales Nacionales S.A. 4-72 will continue to provide its services in accordance with the restrictions resulting from the global health crisis, and to take every possible measure to protect its staff and customers.
Costa Rica
The designated operator of Costa Rica, Correos de Costa Rica S.A., informs of the following measures taken to address the COVID-19 pandemic:
- When delivering items with a signature requirement, the postman checks the identity document of the person taking receipt and records their name and ID number in the delivery list or on the electronic device.
- The few items of incoming mail being received through cargo flights are being processed and distributed normally.
- The absence of any passenger flights is affecting the admission of letters, parcels and EMS items.
Honduras
The designated operator of Honduras, Empresa de Correos de Honduras (Honducor), informs that, in view of the measures adopted by the Honduran Government through an executive order of 7 June 2020 to minimize the spread of COVID-19, the entire territory of Honduras will remain in lockdown until 14 June 2020 (or a later date to be communicated in due course).
To minimize human contact and protect its workers, Honducor has decided that it is necessary to suspend the postal service across the entire postal supply chain until 14 June 2020, or a later date to be communicated in due course (from admission of international mail at land and sea borders, and at Ramon Villeda Morales Airport in San Pedro Sula and Toncontin Airport in Tegucigalpa). It therefore asks countries that normally send their mail to Honduras by air cargo or commercial flights not to do so for the time being; otherwise the mails will need to be stored in customs warehouses, generating significant extra costs. An exception may be made for humanitarian aid, which Honducor is able to process with the knowledge and prior authorization of the Honduran Government.
Iraq
The designated operator of Iraq, Iraqi Post, informs that it is resuming postal operations and will accept inbound mail from 15 June 2020 onwards.
Kuwait
The designated operator of Kuwait, Kuwait Post, informs that all postal services will return to normal from 21 June 2020.
Latvia
The designated operator of Latvia, Latvijas Pasts, informs that the Latvian Government has lifted the state of emergency with effect from 10 June 2020. Some of the restrictions in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19 have thus been relaxed, and the situation is gradually returning to normal.
However, for international mail, owing to the cancellation of flights, the processing of postal items may still be subject to significant delays.
Latvijas Pasts is continuing to accept outbound postal items destined for all countries and is sending them via alternative routes as required.
Accordingly, the restrictions set out in previous bulletins regarding service standards continue to apply, and the force majeure situation remains in force.
Maldives
The designated operator of the Maldives, Maldives Post, informs other that that the Government of the Maldives has decided to extend the sanitary measures, including the lockdown of the Malé region, until 18 June 2020.
The latest developments include:
- Easing of movement within the Malé region from 28 May onwards;
- Partially opening of government institutions to provide essential services extended until 18 June;
- Limited international flights to and from the Maldives until 30 June (or a later date to be communicated in due course).
Access to postal outlets remains subject to restrictions, and measures to minimize human contact remain in force.
Outbound mail items (letter post, parcel post and EMS)
Owing to the suspension and cancellation of many flights to and from the Maldives, severe delays for all outbound airmail are to be expected until sufficient transport capacity becomes available. Maldives Post is therefore not accepting international letter-post, parcel-post and EMS items for any destination until the situation returns to normal.
Inbound mail items (letter post, parcel-post and EMS)
Since 3 June 2020, and until further notice, the international mail processing centre has been operating with a skeleton workforce to process incoming international dispatches. This means that Maldives Post is still unable to guarantee quality of service and delivery standards for letter-post, parcel-post and EMS items, and the case of force majeure already invoked remains in force. The disruption is expected to continue until the epidemic is over.
Signature on delivery is suspended for all letter-post, parcel-post and EMS items. However, tracked confirmation of deliveries will be provided via the usual tracking event scans for products that allow tracking.
Samoa
Samoan Government has extended the state of emergency until 2 July 2020.
There is currently one cargo flight to and from New Zealand per week, and Samoa Post is now sending outbound mail (letter-post, parcel-post and EMS items) to New Zealand only. Outbound mail to all other countries is still suspended until further notice. Samoa Post is also able to deliver any inbound mail with minimal delays.
Spain
The Spanish Government has extended the Status of Alert until June 21th, 2020 in order to reduce the risk of the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). This will be the last extension of the Status of Alert.
This will have a major impact on operations and, consequently, Correos will be unable to ensure, until new advice, the quality of service for all types of inbound and outbound mail (letter post, parcels and EMS) and the delivery standards for items under signature under the UPU Regulation, as well as the bilateral or multilateral agrees signed with other designated postal operators.
Moreover, due to the high increase of road transportation and the operational conditions imposed by the current COVID-19 crisis, the Madrid-Barajas OE is not able to proceed to the unloading of trucks arriving at this Office with bulky load and non-palletized. Therefore, from the 1st of June 2020, those trucks whose load will be under the abovementioned circumstances are not be accepted.
In parallel, Correos is already working on its de-escalation plan to come back gradually to normal within the following weeks.
Spain – regional elections
Start date: 12th July
Correos would like to inform the rest of members on the next regional elections in the Basque Country and Galicia on the 12th July, 2020.
Those Spanish citizens, asking for the voting by post, will be provided with the electoral documentation in order for them to exercise their right to vote. Correos y Telégrafos kindly asks the designated operators of the Union to perform preferential processing to the electoral documentation. The documentation will be sent by registered mail in differentiated dispatches, in orange bags, including the message “ELECTORAL MAIL” in the CN35 form, from June, the 20th 2020.
Correos y Telégrafos thanks all designated postal operators for the processing and distribution of this electoral documentation to the Spanish citizens living abroad, for giving priority to these items, taking into account the difficult conditions raised by the health crisis and, above all, the processing of electoral items in close or open transits for all those destinations for which Correos y Telégrafos does not have viable transportation.
United Arab Emirates
The designated operator of the United Arab Emirates, Emirates Post, informs that it has now resumed providing all mail services.