PRIME is a network of circa 160 designated Postal Operators working together to deliver cross border solutions for e-commerce. It is governed by a General Assembly, which has responsibility for decision making. The Board acts as the executive branch of the General Assembly (GA). The Board also acts as advisory to the GA by presenting proposals for approval on governance matters. The Board can be empowered by the GA to make decisions on their behalf.
The Board strengthens the strategic leadership within PRIME to ensure its growth and sustainability. It is the advisory body to the GA and the Head of PRIME, deciding on the providers to be used for the fulfilment of PRIME activities.
The Board members are elected by the PRIME General Assembly.
Our members’ decision process is simple and efficient, and requests from Posts are treated with the highest attention, in the shortest possible time.
GA Procedures
The GA procedures is a document created by the Political Committee and approved by the GA. To make any changes or updates to it, a two third majority of the members present or represented by proxy is needed.
GA Decisions
The decisions in PRIME are taken during the GA meetings. Proposals are made by Committees, by members or by the PRIME team.
This section contains the main GA decisions taken from January 2020 meeting, which have a direct impact on the business. Other decisions taken during the meetings can be found in the specific year of the GA meetings, in the Document Centre under General Assembly.
General Assembly decisions from December 2020 onwards
December 2020 (virtual meeting) FORCE MAJEURE
Long Force Majeure (FM) was introduced on 1 January 2021. A Long FM is equal to or longer than 30 days duration. The days affected will have a fixed remuneration for the on-time delivery only. This is respectively 0,64 SDR fixed for Exprès and 0,1 SDR for Registered, independent of the real quality achieved. No impact of the FM is given to the on-time return information, which will be considered based on its real performance. All Covid-19 FMs, regardless of the period, are considered as Long FMs and their application is for a full reporting run.
December 2022 (Lisbon)
The new General Assembly procedures have been approved. Main changes are the change of the name from Steering Committee to General Assembly and the introduction of the online voting in case of hybrid meetings.
Membership Types
PRIME has the following categories of members:
- Full Members, who pay the membership fee and have voting rights.
- Associate Members, only open to operators from UPU group 4 countries who do not pay the annual membership fee, have no voting rights and have limited rights as set out in the table below. Members from UPU group 4 may become Full Members if they pay the relevant fee.
- Expansion Members, who do not pay the membership fee, have no voting rights and have limited rights as set out in the table below for a maximum period of twenty(20) months in order to get data exchange systems up and running, prior to becoming Full or Associate Members. Following expiry of the maximum period, membership is automatically revoked and is subject to proof of the member’s effort in working towards data exchange.
- Members in Arrears: Members in arrears are those Members who have not paid their yearly PRIME contribution fee before the 31st of March of the year following the year to which the membership fee was due.
The table below sets out requirements and rights associated with each membership category:
| Membership category | Full | Associate | Expansion | In arrears |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Requirements | ||||
| Deed of accession | x | x | x | x |
| Ability to exchange data | x | x | Working towards data exchange | x |
| Member fee | x | A symbolic annual fee is charged if agreements are signed and volumes are exchanged | x | |
| Rights | ||||
| Voting rights | x | |||
| Participation in PRIME Steering Committee | x | x | x | x |
| Participation in PRIME committees | x | x | x | |
| May chair PRIME committees | x | |||
| May be on PRIME Board | x | |||
| May join PfP agreements | x | x | x | |
| Use GCSS | x | x | x |
Contribution rules
The contribution fees are calculated by the PRIME Team according to the rules decided by the GA.
They are presented for approval in the first GA of the year and are applied for the following year.
Contributions are based on 95% of IPC shares for IPC members and UPU shares for non-IPC members, and 5% on volumes. The reason for this is that more volume does not generate more costs. The non-IPC members have a levy of 15% to balance the costs that IPC members already incur with their year IPC contribution.