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AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF BANGLADESH RELATING TO THE REGISTERED LETTER POST [1975] INTSer 7

AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF BANGLADESH RELATING TO THE REGISTERED LETTER POST

New Delhi, 25 January 1975

The Government of INDIA

AND

The Government of the PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF BANGLADESH

DESIROUS of establishing an exchange of registered correspondence between the Postal Administration of India and Bangladesh

HAVE AGREED as follows :

Article 1

There shall be between the Postal Administration of India and the Postal Administration of Bangladesh, a regular exchange of the following kinds of registered correspondence, namely, letters, letter cards, single postcards, reply postcards, printed papers, small packets and literature for the blind.

Article 2

The exchange of registered correspondence between the two countries shall be performed through the offices of exchange constituted for the purpose. The mails for one Administration which transit through the territory of the other Administration for a third country, shall as regards charges payable to the transiting country, be governed by the provision of the Universal Postal Union Convention.
Mails exchanged between two offices of the same country by means of the services of the other shall be subject to the transit charges as laid down in the Universal Postal Union Convention.
Article 3

The postage on postal articles exchanged between the two Administrations shall be paid by means of postage stamps of the country of origin and such pre-payment shall entitle the postal article to be delivered free of all postal charges. The two Administrations shall communicate to each other details of their tariffs of postal charges and shall supply each other with six complete sets of postage stamps used in their respective services.

Article 4

The Postal Administrations of India and Bangladesh will prescribe appropriate postage rates and fees for all correspondence which will be in conformity with the inland postage rates and fees of the respective countries for the postal articles mentioned in Article 1.

Article 5

Unpaid or insufficiently prepaid correspondence which is wrongly accepted shall be liable to a charge to be paid by the addressee equal to double postage or double the amount of deficiency, subject to a minimum charge of the equivalent of 10 centimes and in case of undeliverable items such charge shall be recovered from the senders.

Article 6

Each Administration shall keep the whole of the sums which it collects under Article 3 & 5.

Article 7

Redirection of articles between India and Bangladesh will be governed by the provisions of the conventions of the Universal Postal Union.

Article 8

Correspondence relating to the Postal Service will be exempted from all Postal charges if exchanged between the following :

(a) Postal Administrations of the two countries.

(b) Post offices of the two countries.

(c) Post Offices and Postal Administrations of the two countries. Such items should bear on the front upper left corner the indication “Postal Service”.

Article 9

Correspondence of an article which is not delivered for whatever cause, shall be returned as soon as possible after the period for keeping it as required by the regulations of the country of destination, and at the latest at the expiration of two months, through the medium of the respective offices of exchange in a special bundle labelled “Rebuts”.

Article 10

Mails exchanged between the two Administrations shall be accompanied by mail lists, a specimen of which is given in Annexure ‘A’

Article 11

As a general rule, the articles of the mails shall be classified and tied up in bundles according to the nature of the correspondence.

(1) Letters bearing traces of violation or damage shall have the fact noted on them and be marked with the date stamp of the office making the note.

(2) Every mail, after having been tied with string, shall be wrapped in strong paper sufficient in quantity to prevent damage to the contents, then tied again with string on the outside and sealed with wax by means of the official seal. The mail shall be furnished with a printed address bearing, in small characters, the name of the dispatching office and in larger characters the name of destination: “From for “ When their size requires it, mails shall be enclosed in bags properly closed, sealed with wax or lead and labelled.

(3) The label used for mails sent in bags shall be of strong thick paper or of paper affixed to blocks. The label shall indicate in a legible manner the office of origin and that of destination.

(4) When the numbers or bulk of the mail necessitates the use of more than one bag, separate bags shall, as far as possible, be utilised :

(a) for Letters and Postcards.

(b) for other articles.

Each bag shall bear an indication of its contents.

(5) No bag shall exceed 20 kilograms in weight.

(6) The packet or bag of registered articles should be placed in one of the bags of Letters, the outer bag should in every case bear a red label. When there is more than one bag of registered items, the additional bag may be sent a decouvert bearing the red label.

Article 12

The bags shall be returned empty to the dispatching office by the next mail in the absence of other arrangements between the two Administrations.

The return of empty bags shall be effected by such office of exchange of the two countries as are respectively appointed for the purpose by the Administrations interested after previous understanding.

The empty bags shall be rolled up and tied together in suitable bundles, the label blocks, if any, being placed inside the bags. The bundles shall be supplied with a label showing the name of the office of exchange whence the bags have been received on every occasion whenever they are returned through another office of exchange

If the bags to be returned are not so numerous, they may be placed in the bags containing correspondence. In the contrary case, they shall be placed separately in sealed bags labelled with the names of the respective offices of exchange. The labels shall be marked “Empty bags”.

Article 13

First class mails, viz. Letters, Letter cards, Single and Reply Postcards originating in either country and destined to the other shall be afforded air conveyance to the extent air services are beneficial for the speedy transmission of the mails. The Administration of destination shall not recover any charge from the Administration of origin for air conveyance on its internal sectors.

Article 14

1. The registered articles of the Letters mail which should bear in bold Letters on the front of the heading “Recommends” (Registered) should be arranged separately in order of the entries in the Registered List a specimen of which is given in Annexure ‘B’ tied in a bundle placing the list after the first article of the bundle. If more than one list is prepared each list should be placed in the bundle to which it relates and under the first article of the bundle. The total number of articles contained in each bundle should be written on the wrapper of the bundle. The bundles should then be placed in a registered bag or made into a packet, as may be convenient and bag or packet should be securely closed and sealed to preserve its contents. The registered items should be arranged in each bundle according to their order of entry in the Registered list.

2. In no case may registered items be included in the same bundle as unregistered items. As far as possible a single bag should not contain more than 600 registered items.

Article 15

1. Registered articles for which the sender requests an advice of delivery should bear in bold letters on the front the indication ‘Advice of delivery’ or the stamp impression ‘A.D.’ The sender should show his name and address in Roman Letters at the bottom left hand corner of the face of the item.

2. Such items should be accompanied by a form, of the consistency of a postcard and light red in colour, in the form of the annexed specimen ‘C’.

1 After the sender has written his name and address in Roman Letters on the front of the form using means other than an ordinary pencil, the form should be completed by the office of origin or by any other office appointed by the dispatching Administration and should be securely attached to the outside of the items; if the form does not reach the office of destination that office itself will make out a new advice of delivery.

3. The office of destination should return the form, duly filled up, unenclosed and free of Postal Charges, to the address shown by the sender. The form should be returned by the first mail. When the sender enquires about an advice of delivery which he has not received within a reasonable period the procedure outlined in Article 16 should be followed.

Article 16
1. When the sender for an advice of delivery after the item has been posted, the office of origin should fill up the form as indicated in Annexure ‘C’ on the front of which the name and address of the sender should be written in Roman Letters.

2. This form should be attached to an enquiry form, a specimen which is given in Annexure ‘D’, this enquiry form, after having a postage stamp representing the charge due affixed to it, should be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of Article 17 except that where the item has been duly delivered, the office of destination will withdraw the enquiry form ( Annexure ‘D’) and return the advice of delivery (Annexure ‘C’) of origin, in the manner indicated in Article 15. Where return of the advice of delivery by air has been asked for the form (Annexure ‘C’) should be dealt with as prescribed in Article 15.

3. The office of destination which receives a request by telegram should prepare the advice of delivery as a matter of course. The arrangements detailed in Article 17 for the transmission of enquiries about registered items, apply to requests for advice of delivery made after posting.

Article 17

1. Every enquiry about a registered item should be made on the enquiry form, (Annexure ‘D’) which should be accompanied as few as possible by a facsimile of the address of item on a small sheet of paper. A single form may be used for several items posted at the same time, at the same office by the same sender and sent by the same means to the address of the same addressee.

2. As a general rule, the enquiry should be sent direct by the office of origin to the office of destination, these transmissions should be affected as a matter of course without a covering letter and in a closed envelope and always by the most rapid means (air or surface). If the office of destination is unable to furnish the information as to the final fate of the item, it should complete the form and return it to the office of origin as a matter of course by the most rapid means (Air or surface).

3. When the fate of the article cannot be established by the office of destination, it should record the fact on the form and return it to the office of origin, enclosing as far as possible declaration by the addressee stating that he has not received the item. The Administration which is unable to establish either delivery to the addressee or correct transmission to another Administration, shall immediately order necessary enquiry. It shall record under Table 4 of the C-9 form its decision on liability. The form duly completed shall be returned by the most rapid route, air or surface, to the office which prepared it. If an inquiry has not been returned
within a suitable period, a duplicate of C-9 form furnished with the forwarding may be sent to the Central Administration of the country of destination but not sooner than a month after the dispatch of the original inquiry. The work ‘Duplicate’ and the date of dispatch of the original shall be written very conspicuously on the duplicate. The inquiry form and the documents attached to it shall be invariably returned to the Administration of origin of the item under inquiry as soon as possible and at the latest within five months from the date of inquiry.

Article 18

Administrations are responsible for the loss of registered items. The sender is entitled on this account to an indemnity the amount of which shall not exceed 40 G.F. for a registered article booked and deliverable either in India or Bangladesh or in respect of an article transiting through either of the administrations.

Article 19

1. Until the contrary is proved, responsibility for the loss of a registered item rests with the Administration which having received it without comment and being furnished with all the prescribed means of inquiry, cannot prove either delivery to the addressee or where appropriate, regular transfer to another Administration.

2. Until the contrary is proved and subject to provisions of para 3 the Administration of destination is relieved of all responsibility when it can prove that it was not informed of the inquiry until after the destruction of the official records relating to the item in question, the period of retention prescribed in Article 31 having expired, this reservation, however, does not prejudice the right of the enquirer.

3. If, however, the loss occurs in course of conveyance and it is impossible to establish in which country’s territory or service the loss took place, both the Administrations should bear the loss equally.

4. The custom duties and other charges of which it has not been possible to secure cancellation should be borne by the Administration responsible for the loss.

4. An Administration which has paid the indemnity takes over the rights, upto the amount of the indemnity, of the person who has received it, in any action which may be taken against the addressee, the sender or third parties.

6. When a registered item has been lost in circumstances beyond control, the Administration in whose territory or service the loss occurred is not responsible to the dispatching Administration.

Article 20

Subject to its rights to make a claim on the Administration which is responsible, the Administration to which the office of posting belongs must pay the indemnity and in cases in which the sender has waived his right in favour of the addressee such indemnity will be paid by the Administration of destination.

Article 21

l. The indemnity shall be paid as soon as possible and at the latest within a period of six months from the day following the date of the inquiry.

2. The settlement of the indemnity beyond the period prescribed in para 1 may, however, be postponed when the question whether the loss of the item is due to causes beyond control has not been decided.

3. The Administration of origin is authorised to settle with the sender at the expense of the Administration of destination which duly informed, has allowed five months to pass without settling the matter. A longer period is permitted if the loss appears to be due to a cause beyond control. This fact is, in any case, to be communicated to the Administration of origin.

Article 22

1. The Administration which is responsible or of which account payment is made is in accordance with Article 21 is bound to reimburse the dispatching Administration for the amount of the indemnity actually paid to the sender, within four months from the date of dispatch of the notice of payment.

2. The Administration whose responsibility is duly proved and which has at first declined to pay the indemnity shall assume all additional costs resulting from the unwarranted delay in payment.

3. Administration may agree to settle periodically for the indemnities which they have paid to the senders and which they have accepted as justified.

Article 23

1. If after payment of indemnity a registered item or part of such an item previously considered as lost is found the addressee and sender should be informed of the fact. The sender or when the sender has waived his rights in favour of the addressee the latter should be further informed that he may take delivery of it within a period of three months on repayment of the amount of indemnity received. If by the end of that period the sender or where applicable the addressee has not claimed the item the same approach is made to the addressee or the sender as the case may be.

2. If the sender or the addressee takes delivery of the item against payment of the amount of indemnity that sum is refunded to the Administration which bore the loss. If the sender and the addressee refuse to take delivery of the item it becomes the property of the Administration which paid the indemnity.

Article 24

Administrations are relieved of all responsibilities for the loss of registered items (a) in circumstances beyond control; (b) when they cannot account for items owing to the destruction of official records through a cause beyond control provided that proof of the responsibility has not been otherwise established; (c) when it is a question of items whose contents fall within the prohibitions specified in Article 28; (d) when the sender has made no inquiry within the period of one year from the day of after that on which the item was posted; (e) when registered items have been delivered according to the conditions laid down for items of the same kind in their internal regulation; (f) when items are confiscated under the internal legislations of the country of destination. The Administrations are also free from all responsibilities for damage to or abstraction or loss of any of the contents of the registered items (g) when the items contain anything the insurance of which is compulsory under internal regulation.

Article 25

1. Enquiries and requests for information will be entertained within a period of a year from the day after that on which the item was posted. Enquiries initiated by an Administration are in order and must be dealt with, provided only that they reach the Administration concerned within fifteen months from the date of posting of the items under inquiry.

2. Each Administration is bound to accept enquiries and requests for information relating to any item posted in the service of the other Administration.

3. When the inquiry or request for information is at the request of the interested party, to be transmitted by air, it will give rise to the collections of the respective air surcharge or double the surcharge if the reply is also to be transmitted by air. In both the cases the amount of the surcharges will be retained in full by the Administration which collects it. If the use of telegraph is requested, the cost of the telegram will also be collected.

Article 26

No fee shall be Levied for enquiries or complaints in regard to correspondence posted in either country for delivery in the other. The request for an attested copy of the original receipt signed by the addressee of a registered article will call for the collection of a fee equal to that established in the domestic service of the country of origin.

Article 27

1. The office of exchange which receives a mail should ascertain whether the entries in the Mail List and Registered List are correct.

2. When the office of exchange detects errors or omissions it should immediately make the necessary corrections on the Mail List and Registered List taking care to strike out the erroneous entries with a pen in such a manner as to leave the original entries legible.

3. These corrections should be made by the officials in the case of an important office and by the officer-in-charge only in the case of an important office where he works single-handed. Except when an obvious error has been committed, they should be accepted in preference to the original statement.

4. The irregularities noticed should be reported to the office of origin of the mail by means of a verification note (specimen of which is given in Annexure ‘E’) in duplicate, and if there is any actual loss, to the last intermediate office, by the most rapid means (air or surface) after the complete check of the mail. The verification note should specify as exactly as possible to which bag, packet or article, the irregularity in question relates. A duplicate of the verification note should also be sent to the headquarters of the Administration of the office of origin of the mail. In case of important irregularities which give ground for presuming loss or tampering, the envelope or bag as well as the string and the wax or lead seal of the packet or bag of registered articles should, as far as possible, be attached to the verification note for the office of origin; where this is not possible, the reason for their non-attachment must be stated. If, however, a registered bag or packet itself is missing, the outer bag of letters which should have contained the missing bag together with its string, seal and label should be sent with the verification note if such outer bag can be identified with certainty. The bag, string, seal etc., should be sent to the headquarters of the Administration of the office of origin with the original verification note. The verification note and the duplicate should be sent in all cases by registered post by surface route. In the cases contemplated in paragraph 1 and 2 above, the office of origin and the last intermediate office, if the verification note is to be sent to the latter office, may also be advised by telegram of the irregularity. A telegraphic intimation must be sent to the office of origin and the intermediate office in all cases in which there is a clear indication that the contents of a mail have been abstracted, so that these offices may proceed with the inquiry without delay.

5. If the short receipt of a mail is the result of a mis-connection or when it is satisfactorily explained in the way bill, the issue of verification note is necessary only if the missing mail is not received by the next dispatch. As soon as a mail which had been reported as missing to the office of origin and the last intermediate office of exchange comes to hand, a second verification note should be addressed to those offices intimating the fact, by the first available mail.

6. The office which receives a verification note should return it to the issuing office, as promptly as possible, after investigating the matter, and recording the necessary remarks on it. If the verification note is not returned to the office which issued it, within a period of two months from the date of its dispatch, it will be considered, unless there is evidence to the contrary that the office to which the verification note was sent has duly accepted it.

7. When a receiving office, responsible for checking a mail has not sent a note reporting irregularities of any kind to the office of origin and, where appropriate, to the last intermediate office of exchange by the first available mail after the check, it is considered as having correctly received the mail and its contents until proof to the contrary has been furnished. The same assumption is made in respect of irregularities of which all
mention has been omitted or regarding which information has been given in an incomplete manner in the verification note. The same is the case when formalities to be observed as laid down in this Article, have not been followed.

8. The verification note, its duplicate and any associated evidence should be forwarded by registered post.

Article 28

Neither of the two Contracting Parties shall send to the other by post any article the importation or transmission of which by post is prohibited in the latter country. Each Administration shall communicate to the other a list of the articles so prohibited. Any postal article which has been erroneously given transmission, shall be returned to the country of origin except in cases, where the Administration of the country of destination is authorised by its laws or by its internal regulations to dispose of it otherwise. Explosives, inflammable dangerous substances, obscene or immoral articles, however, shall not be returned to the country of origin. When their presence is detected by the Administration of the country of destination, they shall be destroyed on the spot.

Article 29

The Postal Administrations of India and Bangladesh will forward to such of the member countries of the Universal Postal Union as indicated by them articles of correspondence under the provisions of Article 4 of Universal Postal Union Constitution of Tokyo 1969. No transit charges will be levied by any Administration for forwarding such mails to those foreign countries either by surface or by Air.

Article 30

When, owing to exceptional circumstances, one of the Postal Administrations finds itself obliged to suspend its services temporarily either wholly or in part, it is bound to notify the fact immediately, if need be, by telegram, to the other Administration.

Article 31
1. Documents relating to the service between India and Bangladesh should be preserved for a minimum period of eighteen months from the day following the date to which they refer.

2. Documents concerning a dispute or inquiry are to be preserved until the matter has been settled. If the initiating Administration, duly informed of the result of the inquiry, allows six months to pass from the date of the communication without raising any objection, the matter is regarded as closed.

Article 32

1. Both the Administrations hereby agree that in matters not expressly provided for in this Agreement the provisions of the Constitution of the Universal Postal Union, the Universal Postal Convention and the Detailed Regulations shall be applicable.

2. The internal legislation of India and Bangladesh shall remain applicable as regards every thing not provided for in the present Agreement.

Article 33

The present Agreement shall enter into force with effect from 25th January 1975. It shall thereafter continue to be in force until it is terminated by one Government by giving six months notice in writing to the other.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned, duly authorised for the purpose, have signed this Agreement in two originals.

DONE at New Delhi

For the Government of India

Sd/-
RABI RAY
Sr. Member (PO) P & O Board,
New Delhi - 110001, and
Ex-Officio Addl. Secy. to the Government of India
DONE at Dacca

For the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh

Sd/-
A.M. AHSANULLAH
Director General
Bangladesh Post Office


India Bilateral

Ministry of External Affairs, India


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