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August 05, 1958

Note: The Agreement entered into force, August 5, 1958.

Reference: This Agreement is also published in III DFA TS No. 2, p. 55.

In accordance with the provisions of Article XVIII of the Parcel Post Agreement between the Republic of the Philippines and the Republic of China, the Postal Administrations of the two countries have agreed as follows:

ARTICLE 1
ADDRESSING, PACKING AND POSTING

1. Each parcel shall bear the exact and complete names and addresses of the sender and the addressee in Roman characters; and in case of parcels addressed to Chinese persons, th,e senders in the Philippines should be requested to write also the addressee's name and address in Chinese, if possible, in addition to those in Roman characters. Such names and addresses shall be written on the parcel itself or, if there is not enough space therefor, on a label so firmly attached to it that the label cannot become detached. The sender shall be advised to enclose in the parcel a copy of his address and that of the addressee.

2. Every parcel shall be packed in a manner adequate for the length of the journey and for the protection of the contents, but such that it can easily be opened for examination. Articles liable to injure postal employees or to damage other mails shall be so packed as to prevent any risk.

3. The office and date of posting of each parcel shall be stamped on the wrapper or container thereof.

ARTICLE 2

CUSTOMS DECLARATION AND CERTIFICATE OF MAILING

1. Each parcel shall have attached to it one customs declaration prepared on a special form provided for the purpose by the Administration of origin. The customs declaration shall give a general description of the parcel, and accurate statement in detail of its contents and value, date of mailing, the actual weight, the sender's name and address, and the name and address of the addressee.

2. The two Administrations assume no responsibility for the correctness of customs declaration.

3. The sender of a parcel may, at the time of posting thereof, receive a certificate of mailing on a form provided for the purpose which shall bear the name of the office origin of and date of posting.

ARTICLE 3

INDICATION OF PARCELS

1. At the option of the country of origin, each parcel may bear on its address side an indorsement or a label with the indications of the parcel number and the name of the post office of mailing.

2. In so far as an air parcel is concerned, it must be furnished on the address side with a label in blue bearing the words "AIR MAIL" "PAR AVION" or "AIR PARCEL POST" or be stamped with the same words, in addition to the label or indorsement prescribed in the next preceding section.

ARTICLE 4

DISPATCH OF PARCELS

1. Parcels shall be exchanged, in bags duly fastened and sealed, between the exchange offices designated by the two Administrations, and shall be dispatched to the country of destination at the expenses of the country of origin and by such means as it provides.

2. The bags referred to in the preceding section shall have, securely fastened to the neck, a label indicating the name of the dispatching office, the name of the exchange office of destination, the number of parcels contained, and the number given for the dispatch.

ARTICLE 5

RECEPTACLES

1. The Administrations shall provide the bags needed for the dispatch of their respective parcels, and each bag shall be marked to show the name of the country to which it belongs.

2. Bags must be returned empty and without charge to the dispatching exchange office as soon as possible. They may be included with empty bags used in the dispatch of regular mails, and their return shall be governed by the pertinent provisions of the Universal Postal Convention. Distinctive parcel-post bags may be returned separately from regular-mail bags, in which case the total number thereof shall be advised on the corresponding parcel bill and not on the letter bill for the regular mail.

3 As for the bags received containing air parcels, the return referred to in the preceding section shall be effected by means of surface route.

4. The returning Administration shall repay to the Administration of origin the value of any bags which it fails to return.

ARTICLE 6

BILLING OF PARCELS

1. Parcels conveyed either by surface route or by air route are entered on separate parcel bills to show the number, name of the office of posting and weight of each and the sum to be credited therefor, as well as the total number of parcels. The entry on the parcel bills of each redirected or returned parcel must be followed by the word "Redirected" or "Returned", as the case may be, together with a detailed statement of additional charges to be collected, in the "Observations" column. Air Parcel Bills shall bear on top the label or the imprint of the stamp referred to in Section 2 of Article 3.

2. The amounts to be credited must be totaled and shown on each parcel bill. The total number of bags comprising each dispatch must also be shown on the parcel bills.

3. Each dispatching exchange office shall number the parcel bills according to an annual series for each exchange office of destination. The last number of the year shall be shown on the parcel bill of the first dispatch of the following year.

4. The parcel bills shall be prepared in triplicate at least. The original is sent in the regular mails (air-parcel bill in the air mail), the duplicate is inserted in one of the bags and the triplicate is retained at the dispatching exchange office. The label of the bag containing the parcel bill shall be marked with the letter "F".

ARTICLE 7

CHECKING OF PARCELS

1. The receiving exhange office shall check the parcels on the accompanying bills. If a parcel is missing or any other irregularity is noted, it shall be immediately reported to the dispatching exchange office by means of a bulletin of verification under registered cover. The report of such a serious irregularity as to involve the responsibility of the respective Administration shall be accompanied by the strings, wax or lead seals, or other articles used for closing the bag which contained the parcels, if they are available. In case no report is made by the next mail, it will be assumed that the dispatch has been received in proper order until the contrary is proven.

ARTICLE 8

RECALL. CHANGE OF ADDRESS

1. The Administration receiving a request for the recall or change of address of a parcel shall require, before accepting the request, the applicant to prove his identity with the sender of the parcel.

2. A single form may be used for the request referred to in the provisions of Section 2 of Article IX of the Agreement.

3. If the request is to be transmitted by mail, the form, accompanied with an exact facsimile of the address of the parcel, is sent directly under registered cover to the office of destination or the office designated for the purpose by the Administration of destination.

4. If the request is to be made by telegraph, the term of the request is transmitted by telegraph to the office of destination or the office designated for the purpose by the Administration of destination.

5. The office to which the request is transmitted shall search for the parcel in question and take the necessary action.
6. If the search is fruitless, or if the parcel has already been delivered or the request is not explicit, that fact shall be reported at once to the inquiring office.

ARTICLE 9

NON-DELIVERY

1. The sender who desires to have his parcel, in case of non-delivery, either (a) treated as abandoned, or (b) delivered at a second address, or (c) returned immediately, shall be required to write his request to that effect on the address side of the parcel and on the corresponding customs declaration.

2. The parcels to be returned as undeliverable to the country of origin shall be marked with the reason for non-delivery.

3. If a parcel, for any reason, is neither delivered as addressed nor returned to origin) the Administration of origin shall be informed in the precise number of the treatment accorded to the parcel.

ARTICLE 10

INQUIRY

1. When the sender inquires for his parcel, the office of origin or any other office designated by the dispatching Administration fills up an inquiry form and sends it to the office of destination or any other office designated by the Administration of destination, accompanied, whenever possible, by a facsimile of the address of the parcel. The inquiry form to be returned by air mail shall bear on its front the notation "Return by Air" in conspicuous characters. In lieu of any inquiry form, a communication may be prepared instead.

2. A single form or communication may be used for the inquiry referred to in Section 3 of Article XII of the Agreement.

3. If the request is to be made by telegraph, the term of the request is transmitted by telegraph to the office of destination.

4. If the service of the country of destination is in a position to furnish information as to the ultimate disposal of the parcel, it completes the inquiry form and returns it to the office from which the form has been forwarded.

When the disposal of the parcel cannot be established by the service of the country of destination, that fact is recorded on the form and the form is returned accompanied, possibly, by a declaration from the addressee that he has not received the parcel,

ARTICLE 11

SALE. DESTRUCTION

1. When a parcel has been sold or destroyed in accordance with the provisions of Article XIII of the Agreement, a report of the sale or destruction is prepared. A copy of the report, together with the customs declaration, if available, is forwarded to the office of origin.

2. The proceeds of the sale are used in the first place to defray the charges upon the parcel, and the balance, if any, shall be remitted to the office of origin to be paid to the sender, on whom falls the expense of forwarding it, or included in the parcel-post account.

ARTICLE 12

WRONGLY ACCEPTED AND MISSENT PARCELS

1. When parcels wrongly accepted and dispatched ('except those containing prohibited articles) or missent parcels are returned to origin, the returning Administration shall refund to the dispatching Administration, the amount credited for the parcels and report the irregularity by means of a bulletin of verification. However, the air transportation charges for their return by air route are collected from the dispatching Administration.

2. When the missent parcels are forwarded to their proper destination and the amount credited to the forwarding Administration is insufficient to cover the expenses for the onward transmission, the forwarding Administration shall claim from the dispatching Administration the amount of the deficiency and report the reason for the claim by means of a bulletin of verification.

ARTICLE 13

ACCOUNTING

1. Each Administration causes each of its exchange offices to prepare quarterly, for all the parcels received from the Dispatching Administration, a statement, on which are inscribed the total amounts entered on the parcel bills to its credits and debts.

2. The statements shall be summarized in an account which is made out in duplicate.

3. These accounts, accompanied by the statements, shall be sent to the dispatching Administration for examination during the quarter following that to which they relate.

4. The Administration which received the accounts shall, after acceptance or entering on them its observations, return a copy thereof.

5. The accounts shall be summarized in a general annual account to be prepared by the creditor Administration.

6. Payment of the balance resulting from the accepted general account shall be effected as soon as possible in the manner agreed upon by the Administration of the two countries, the expenses incidental to the payment to be borne by the Debtor Administration.

ARTICLE 14

MISCELLANEOUS NOTIFICATIONS

The two Administrations shall communicate to each other all matters necessary for carrying out the exchange of parcels between them under the Agreement and the Detailed Regulations, especially the following:

(a) Communications on all articles barred from domestic mails or the transmission of which by parcel post is prohibited or restricted by laws and regulations.

(b) Communications on places to which parcels up to the maximum weight and dimensions can not be sent.

ARTICLE 15

EFFECTIVTTY AND DURATION

These detailed Regulations shall take effect on the day on which the Agreement comes into force and shall have the same duration as the Agreement. The Administrations shall, however, have the power by mutual consent to modify them from time to time.

Done in duplicate, in the English and Chinese Languages, both texts being equally authentic, and signed at Manila on the 30th day of September, 1957, and at Taipei, Taiwan on the 25th day of August, 1958.