Cracks in international legislation

International postal traffic is governed by two international instruments:

- World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement).

- The Universal Postal Union’s Universal Postal Convention (UPC).

Article 60 of the TRIPS Agreement, concerning “De Minimis” imports, provides that “ Members may exclude from the application of the above provisions small quantities of goods of a non-commercial nature contained in travelers’ personal luggage or sent in small consignments ”. In addition, Article 51 of the Agreement provides that there is an obligation to control goods only at importation, and if they infringe a trademark or copyright. This means that under the terms of these two Articles there is no obligation to subject small consignments to controls, controls are not mandatory at exportation, and there are restrictions on the scope of the controls limiting them to trademarks and copyright only.

The Universal Postal Convention stipulates, in Article 5, that “… a postal item shall remain the property of the sender under it is delivered to the rightful owner, except when the item has been seized in pursuance of the legislation of the country of origin or destination …”, while Article 25 prohibits, subject to some exceptions, the transportation of certain goods by post, namely: narcotics; live animals; explosive substances; radioactive materials; immoral articles; and bank notes and other valuables. Counterfeit or pirated goods have not been included in the list of prohibited products!