The UPU has recognized 17 countries that have joined the S42 international addressing standard certification programme.
UPU standard S42 has two parts, one that specifies the elements of an address, and the other that contains templates showing users how to turn those elements into a properly formatted address.
According to UPU addressing expert Piotr Piotrowski, “this benefits operators and businesses in many different ways. They use S42 to standardize their addresses to comply with the address structure in the destination country”.
A working group dedicated to the standard helps member countries develop templates based on a sample of all their types of formatted addresses, and then saves this data in electronic files that are easy to use and to integrate into addressing software.
“S42 is easy to use, and provides both an addressing structure and clear instructions. The standard comes to mailers ready-to-use, because it adapts easily to web applications,” said Pierre Rossouw, postcode manager at the South African Post Office. “This standard made it easier to introduce postcodes and an addressing system in my country. We were able to automatically codify all addresses and verify millions of data records,” added the South African, who had come to give a presentation about the attribution of millions of addresses in rural areas.
The recognition ceremony took place during an addressing conference organized by the UPU. The organization's director general, Edouard Dayan, urged countries to join the standard certification programme to better connect citizens with their countries’ socio-economic institutions and to streamline cross-border mail processing.
The 17 countries that have joined the S42 certification programme are: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the United States and Venezuela.