KUALA LUMPUR: Pos Malaysia Berhad (Pos Malaysia) is working closely with all relevant parties to help the public and businesses brace the huge impact from the potentially high postal rates, and the instability of the global postal system if the United States Postal Service (USPS) withdraws from the Universal Postal Union (UPU).

Pos Malaysia in a statement here today said a deregulation consideration is a possible option to cushion the potential rise of postal and parcel rates globally subsequent to the United States Postal Service's (USPS) exit from the UPU or in short Pexit, an allusion to the likewise uncertainty of Brexit.

"Albeit the revision of rates that come into agreement, our priority is to ensure that we will continuously provide the affordability of postal services to all users," it said.

Pos Malaysia also assured that it would not lose sight of its transformation agenda while it continues to address the challenges and minimize the impact for Malaysian consumers and businesses.

"This will be built upon Pos Malaysia's unmatched distribution network and the vast opportunity to develop new digital businesses for its customers," it said.

Post Malaysia said while Malaysia's stand is for the status quo and a more matured new proposal to be studied and submitted at the next Abidjan UPU Congress in 2020, it is likely that a new option proposed by the USPS will be voted through at the ongoing UPU extraordinary congress in Geneva, Switzerland.

"The voting process is currently ongoing from 25-26 Sept, and Pos Malaysia will be updating on the outcome of the members' decision accordingly," it said.

The threat of USPS leaving the UPU on Oct 17 looms large at the extraordinary UPU Congress in Geneva and is seen as an upshot from US President Donald Trump's stand off with China in the ongoing trade war between the two sides.

The media has reported that postal and parcel rates could be affected as the US is considering ending 144 years of US involvement in the international body that governs the exchange of mail and postal parcels between countries.

Three proposals have been tabled at the congress with all the options having a high-cost impact to postal operators across the globe.

The proposals are - accelerating rate changes under the current methodology, allowing countries to self-declare their rates, and a convergence proposal which blends the two.

The UPU remuneration system for letters and small packages - also known as the "terminal dues" system - ensures that Posts are compensated for the cost of handling, transporting and delivering items across borders.

This multilateral agreement facilitates the movement of postal items across borders, ensuring that anyone, anywhere within the UPU's 192 countries can send and receive the international post.

The current system was decided by the 2016 Congress and entered into force in January 2018.

Meanwhile, Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo had said on Tuesday that the ministry is awaiting the outcome of the UPU Extraordinary Congress to discuss the future of UPU's remuneration system for inbound international letters and small parcels.

He had said he would not comment further on the matter for now as the three-day congress only ends on Thursday (Sept 26).

- BERNAMA