100 years Universal Postal Union - Germany / German Democratic Republic 1974 - 20 Pfennig

100 years Universal Postal Union For the 100th anniversary of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of the German Democratic Republic publishes four multicolored postage stamps. 100th anniversary of the Universal Postal Union On October 9, 1974, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Universal Postal Union of 22 countries is celebrated. The tumultuous development of capitalism of free competition in the middle of the nineteenth century and the conquest into the highest stage of capitalism, imperialism, and the expansion of economic relations beyond national borders, required the organization of postal communications on a world scale , Until then, the situation was characterized by the need for each country to conclude bilateral treaties in preparation and establishment of postal services with transit and destination countries. It should not be overlooked that there were different conditions of acceptance, levels of weight and fees to safeguard sources of revenue in the different countries, which had to be taken into account in the contracts and had an inhibiting effect on the operation of a simple and smooth postal service. The process of revolutionizing the productive forces and the concomitant increase in the number of communications needs encouraged the emergence of new modes of transport by requiring the creation of reliable, regular and secure postal services. The principles of the first treaty of the year 1874, which at first only referred to correspondence and printed matters, have been preserved to some extent up to the present day. Some of the essential principles are to ensure the mutual exchange of mail and the free passage, as well as to recognize and apply common foundations for the international postal service. Due to the general development, numerous ancillary agreements to the Universal Postal Convention were concluded over time. These include the Postal Parcel Agreement, Wertbrief- and Wertkästchenabkommen, Postanweisungs- and Postreisescheckabkommen, Postal Transfer Agreements, Postal Acceptance Agreements, postal order agreements, postal savings bank agreements and the postal newspaper agreement. In the following years, the number of members of the Universal Postal Union has increased rapidly. In contrast to the main text of the constitution and the Universal Postal Convention, the other agreements - also called ancillary agreements - are not obligatory documents, but their recognition and application is the free decision of each member country. The founding of the United Nations and the adoption of the principles contained in the Charter provided new international legal bases for the status of international organizations. With the agreement of July 7, 1947, the Universal Postal Union obtained the status of a special organization of the UN, which, as stated in the preamble to the Constitution, has the task of promoting the links between the peoples through an effective operation of the postal service and to achieve the high Objectives of international cooperation in the cultural, social and economic fields. In this sense, the Universal Postal Union, which currently has 153 member states, serves to develop a global postal service.