On 9th October 1874, at the end of a conference held in Berne, Switzerland, the General Postal Union was founded, with 22 countries as members. Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Rumania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and The United States Of America.

The agreement between these countries meant that all post could travel freely between them without any charges being made en-route. It took a long time to reach this stage in the history of the postal services and many previous attempts had floundered. For the first time these countries could send and receive post without having to sort the mail to calculate how many charges they had to pay or collect in the way of international charges.

On 18th May 1878, the name of this organisation was changed to the Universal Postal Union. (UPU) At this time it was decided that all other countries should be encouraged to join. At the turn of the century, the majority of world countries were members.

There have been various developments and improvements over the years but the general structure and work of the UPU remains to this day.

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