This section contains information (incl. Q&As, information, links to key data with regular updates) to help postal operators deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Latest news

• 30/04/2021 The Lithuanian Government has extended the country lockdown until 31 May 2021.  Postal services will continue to operate under certain restrictions.
• 30/04/2021 Due to the international COVID-19 pandemic, La Poste is suspending its transit à découvert services for letter-post and parcel-post items to the United States of America and its dependencies. US is not listed as a destination in the transit à découvert compendium published each year. As such, it will be obliged to return any transit items wrongly received for those destinations.
• 29/04/2021  The European Parliament adopted its negotiating position on the proposal for the "EU COVID-19 Certificate".  It must facilitate fee movement without discrimination. 
• 29/04/2021  Due to the current COVID19 situation in Slovakia, the Slovakian government has extended the state of emergency a further 30 days, from 29 April 2021.  Slovenská Pošta will continue to provide postal services in line with public health measures and other restrictions, but with a reduced workforce.
• 29/04/2021  At present, all mail from the Asia-Oceania zone is reaching French Polynesia by sea once a month, while a proportion of parcel post from Europe arrives by sea once every 10 weeks.
• 23/04/2021  La Poste is suspending its transit services for letter-post and parcel-post items to the US and its dependencies, due to the requirements of the US STOP Act and international health situation.
• 22/04/2021  Further crucial step for the Digital Green Certificate: Member States agree on technical specifications 
• 20/04/2021  The European Commission and Austria secure COVID-19 vaccines for the Western Balkans
• 20/04/2021  The Slovenian government has extended the current lockdown a further 30 days as of 17 April 2021. Pošta Slovenije will continue to provide postal services with a reduced workforce, in line with public health measures and other restrictions.
• 14/04/2021  Česká pošta s.p., informed that the lockdown in Czech Republic now ended.  However, the previous services restrictions remains in place.
• 12/04/2021  Hrvatska Posta has introduced a special procedure for postal items that are subject to signature upon delivery.
• 12/04/2021  Commission proposes to exempt vital goods and services distributed by the EU from VAT in times of crisis 
• 09/04/2021  On 31 March 2021 the French President announced a new lockdown from 3 April till 2 May 2021 due to a third wave of COVID-19 infections.  Measures are stepped-up and extended to the rest of the territory for four weeks. La Poste will comply with all the measures and do its utmost to ensure customer satisfaction and operational continuity.
• 07/04/2021  The Latvian Government has lifted the state of emergency from 7 April 2021.  However, due to flight cancellations and certain safety measures that remain in place, the processing of inbound and outbound postal items may still be subject to significant delays.
• 31/03/2021  To control the spread of the coronavirus, the Lithuanian Government has extended the country's lockdown until 30 April 2021.  Lietuvos pastas will continue to provide postal services under certain restrictions.
• 30/03/2021  Due to the severity of the COVID-19 situation in Poland, the Polish Government has implemented a national lockdown from 20 Match to 9 April 2021.  Poczta Polska will continue to provide postal services in line with public health measures and other restrictions. 
• 30/03/2021  The Czech government has extended the state of emergency for a further 174 days, with effect from 28 March 2021 due to the current COVID-19 situation.  Česká pošta will continue to provide postal services in line with public health measures and other restrictions.
• 30/03/2021  Due to the third wave of the pandemic, the Belgian government announced a new lockdown from 26 March until at least 25 April 2021. bpost will continue its services according to safety guidelines. More
• 25/03/2021  Parliament fast-tracks procedure to adopt Digital Green Certificate by June

Regulatory and governance

Regulatory changes

1. 26/04/2021   State aid: Commission approves €1.9b Czech scheme to support uncovered fixed costs of companies affected by coronavirus outbreak
2. 23/04/2021   State aid: Commission approves €462m Portuguese support to compensate TAP for damage suffered due to coronavirus outbreak
3. 19/04/2021   State aid: Commission adopts revised Regional Aid Guidelines
4. 06/04/2021   State aid: Commission approves up to €4b French measure to recapitalise Air France
5. 26/03/2021   State aid: Commission approves €24.7m of Italian support to compensate Alitalia for further damages suffered due to coronavirus outbreak 

Hygiene 

1. France: Groupe La Poste "Adoptons les bons gestes pour se protéger" poster
2. Greece: Hellenic Post ELTA "Precautions against Covid-19" updated poster
3. Greece: Hellenic Post ELTA "Precautions against Covid-19" poster
4. Ireland: An Post "Wash your hands" poster
5. Ireland: An Post "Cough and sneezes" poster
6. Ireland: Public Health Advice poster
7. Italy: Actions taken to combat the spread of COVID-19
8. Turkey: Turkish Ministry of Health poster

Social distancing

1. Denmark: Delivery without physical contact infographic
2. France: Groupe La Poste infosheets
3. Georgia: Georgian Post delivery information video
4. Greece: Greek government's poster #menoumespiti (we stay at home) 
5. Greece: Greek government's logo (we stay safe) as of 28/4 
6. Italy: Actions taken to combat the spread of COVID-19
7. Italy: AGICOM Italy video on postal measures when signing postal items
8. Norway: Posten Norge Plexiglass installed at postal counters
9. Spain: Correos Simple delivery measures infographic
10. Switzerland: How Swisspost is protecting their employees and customers in their branches
11. Turkey: Ministry of Health 14 rules poster

Self isolation 

1. Greece:  "Stay home. ELTA takes care of you" video 
2. Greece: "This Easter … ELTA takes care of you!!!" video
3. Portugal: CTT Portugal Post "Stay at Home" video 
4. UK: Royal Mail "One Year On - Delivering through a pandemic" video  (23/03/2021)
5. UK: Royal Mail "Delivering for the Country" video

Last updated 07 May 2021