Dacca, 27 November 1974
The Government of INDIA
AND
The Government of the People’s Republic of BANGLADESH,
DESIROUS of establishing an exchange of Insured Letters and boxes between the Postal Administration of India and Bangladesh,
HAVE AGREED as follows :
Article 1
EXCHANGE OF INSURED LETTERS
There shall be a regular exchange of insured letters and boxes between the Postal, Administration of India and the Postal Administration
of Bangladesh. The exchange of insured letters and boxes between the two countries shall be performed through Offices of Exchange
constituted for this purpose.
Article 2
AUTHORISED ENCLOSURES
Insured Letters may contain Securities or valuable documents or papers representing money value and insured boxes may contain Jewellery
or other valuable articles with insurance of the contents for the value declared by the sender as prescribed in Article 3.
Article 3
INSURED VALUE
1. A letter may be insured upto a limit of 1,000 gold francs as defined in Universal Postal Convention or such other limit as may
be mutually agreed upon.
2. The insurance fee that shall be fixed by the Postal Administration of the country of origin shall not exceed 50 centimes for each
200 gold francs of insured value or part thereof or one-fourth per cent of the insured value or upto the charge collected in the
internal service of either countries, if that charge is higher.
3. The insured value shall not exceed the actual value of the contents of the letter, but it shall be permissible to insure only part
of that value; the amount of insurance for papers whose value resides in the cost of their preparation may not exceed the cost of
replacing the document in case of loss.
4. Fraudulent insurance for a value greater than the actual value of the contents of the letter shall be liable to legal proceedings
prescribed by the legislation of the country of origin.
Article 4
GENERAL CONDITIONS FOR ISSUE OF INSURED LETTERS AND BOXES
1. Insured letters shall be subject to the conditions of weight and size applicable to ordinary Letters.
2. Insured boxes shall not exceed 1 kilogramme in weight and shall not exceed 30 centimetres in, length, 20 centimetres in breadth
and 10 centimetres in depth.
3. The prepayment of the postage charge, the fixed registration fee and the insurance fee on an insured letter and or an insured box
shall be compulsory.
Article 5
PROHIBITIONS
1. The forwarding of insured letters containing the following articles shall be prohibited :
(a) Articles which, by their nature or their packing, may expose officials to danger, or soil or damage correspondence; or postal
equipment;
(b) Explosive, inflamable, dangerous, filthy, noxious or deleterious substances (including loaded metal caps, live cartridges, matches
and sharp instruments not properly protected.
(c) Live animals (except bees which must be enclosed in boxes so constructed as to avoid all danger to postal officials and to allow
the contents to be ascertained).
(d) articles of which the importation or circulation is prohibited by law or by the customs or other regulations.
(e) articles of obscene, immoral, seditious, scurrilous, threatening or grossly offensive nature; and
(f) opium, morphine, cocaine leaf, hemp and other narcotics.
2. Insured letters shall not contain coins, platinum, gold or silver, manufactured or not, precious stones or jewels and other valuable
articles.
3. Insured boxes shall not contain:
(a) documents having the character of current and personal correspondence. However, they may contain an open invoice reduced to its
essential elements and one copy of the address on the box with a note of the sender’s address.
(b) bank notes, currency notes or securities of any kind payable to bearer.
Article 6
TREATMENT OF LETTERS WRONGLY ADMITTED
1. Any insured item which does not satisfy the provisions of Article 4 and which has been wrongly admitted shall be returned to the
Administration of origin. Nevertheless, the Administration of destination is authorised to deliver it to the addressee, applying
to it the charges and surcharges, if any, according to the inland rules of the country of destination.
2. Any insured item containing the articles mentioned in Article 5 and which has been wrongly admitted shall be dealt with according
to the internal legislation of the country of the Administration which establishes the presence of those articles.
3. When an insured item which has been wrongly admitted, is neither returned to the Administration of origin nor sent on to the addressee,
the Administration of origin shall be informed exactly how the letter has been dealt with.
4. Insured boxes containing documents having the nature of current and personal correspondence shall be treated according to the legislation
of the country whose Administration establishes their presence. Nevertheless in the case of a single item of correspondence prohibited
within the meaning of Article 6,3(a), the Contracting Parties agree that such correspondence shall be treated in the manner prescribed
in Article 24 of the Universal Postal Union Convention and the insured box shall not be returned to country of origin on this account.
Article 7
FREE POSTAGE
Insured letters on postal service exchanged between the two Postal Administrations are exempted from all Postal charges.
Article 8
EXPORT/IMPORT REGULATIONS AND FEES
1. Insured boxes shall be subject to the legislation of the country of origin as regards export regulations and fees; they shall be
subject to the legislation of the country of destination as regards import regulations and fees and customs control. The Insured
boxes and also Insured letters would be subject to Export/Import Regulations as also Foreign Exchange Regulations of the two countries.
2. Fiscal fees and assay charges due on import shall be collected from the addressee at the time of delivery; if, for any reason,
an insured box is redirected to another country or returned to the office of origin, the fees and charges which cannot be cancelled
on re-export shall be collected from the addressee or the sender.
Article 9
RESPONSIBILITY FOR LOSS OR DAMAGE
Except as provided for in Article 10, the two Postal Administrations shall be responsible for the loss of, abstraction from or damage
to insured items.
Article 10
The two Postal Administrations shall be relieved of all responsibility :
(a) in circumstances beyond control (force majeure);
(b) when their responsibility not having been proved otherwise, they are unable to account for insured items in consequence of the
destruction of officials documents through a cause beyond control (force majeure);
(c) when the damage has been caused by fault of negligence of the sender, or when it arises from the nature of the content of the
article;
(d) when it falls within the prohibitions specified in Article 5;
(e) when a item has been fraudulently insured for a sum exceeding the actual value of the contents.
(f) When the sender has made no enquiry within one year from the day after on which the item was posted.
(g) when it is a question of items confiscated under the internal legislation or regulations of the country of destinations;
(h) when the loss, abstraction or damage is due to improper or insecure packing;
(i) when there is no visible damage to the cover or seals.
Article 11
CESSATION OF RESPONSIBILITY
The two Postal Administrations shall cease to be responsible for insured items which have been delivered in accordance with their
internal regulations and of which the addressees or their agents have accepted the delivery without reservation.
Article 12
PAYMENT OF COMPENSATION
1. The sender shall be entitled to a compensation corresponding to the actual amount of the loss, abstraction or damage, except that
it shall in no case exceed the amount of the insured value.
2. Indirect loss or loss of profits shall not be taken into consideration.
3. The compensation shall be calculated in accordance with the current price of the article of the same nature at the place and time
at which the article was accepted for transmission.
4. When the compensation is due for the loss, total destruction or total abstruction of an insured letter, the sender shall also be
entitled to repayment of charges and fees paid, with the exception of insurance fee which shall be retained in every case by the
Administration of origin.
5. The payment of compensation shall be undertaken by the Postal Administration of the country of origin or, if the sender has waived
his rights in favour of the addressee, by the Postal Administration of delivery, either of which retains the right to make a claim
against the Administration responsible.
6. Compensation shall be paid as soon as possible, and at the latest, within 6 months from the day following the date of enquiry.
7. The Postal Administration of the country of origin or of destination, as the case may be, shall be authorised to pay compensation
to the person entitled to receive it, on behalf of the concerned Administration, which after being duly informed of the application,
has let five months pass without giving decision in the matter. The Postal Administrations responsible for making payment may, in
exceptional cases, postpone it beyond the period of 6 months when the decision has not yet been reached on the question whether the
loss, damage or abstraction is due to a cause beyond control.
Article 13
APPOINTMENT OF RESPONSIBILITY
1. Until the contrary is proved, responsibility shall rest with the Postal Administration which, having received the insured item
without making any reservation and being provided with all the; prescribed means of enquiry, cannot prove either delivery to the
addressee or his agent or regular transfer to the other Administration.
2. If the loss, abstraction or damage occurs in course of conveyance without it being possible to establish in which country’s territory
or service it occurred, both the Administrations shall bear the loss equally. If, however, the loss, abstraction or damage has been
established in the country of destination or in the case of return to the sender in the country of origin, it rests with the Administration
of that country to prove that neither the packet, envelope or bag and its sealing nor the packing and sealing of the item showed
any apparent defect and that the weight did not differ from that recorded at the time of posting. When such proof has been furnished
by the Administration of destination or of origin, as the case may be, the other Administration concerned may not repudiate its share
of the responsibility on the ground that it handed over the insured item without the receiving Administration having made any objection.
3. The same principle shall, as far as possible, be applied when other Administrations are concerned in the conveyance of insured
items.
4. The customs duty and other charges of which it has not been possible to secure cancellation shall be borne by the Administrations
responsible for the loss, abstration, or damage.
5. The Administration which has paid the compensation takes over the rights, up to the amount of the compensation, of the person who
has received it in any action which may be taken against the addressee, the sender or a third party.
6. If any insured item which has been regarded as lost is subsequently found in whole or in part, the sender or the addressee to whom
the compensation has been paid shall be informed that he may take delivery of it within a period of three months on repayment of
the amount of compensation received.
7. If the person to whom compensation has been paid takes delivery of the insured item after the repayment of the amount of the compensation,
that sum shall be refunded to the Administration which bore the loss. If the person to whom compensation has been paid refuses to
take delivery of the insured item it becomes the property of the Administration which bore the loss.
8. The responsibility of one Administration towards the other shall be in no case binding beyond the adopted limit of insured value
per letter.
Article 14
RESPONSIBILITY IN TRANSIT
1. Each Postal Administration agrees to accept in transit through its service, to and from any country with which it has insured item
service, insured items originating in or addressed for delivery in the service of the other Administration.
2. The insured items emanating from either country transitting through the other and destined for a third country shall be sent either
‘a decouvert’ or in closed bag.
Article 15
APPLICATION OF THE UNIVERSAL POSTAL UNION CONVENTION
The Contracting Parties agree that as regards everything not expressly provided for in the Agreement, the provisions of the Universal
Postal Union Convention regarding letters, shall be applicable to insured letters and boxes.
Article 16
MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
The Contracting parties have drawn up Detailed Regulations for ensuring the execution of the present Agreement. The Contracting Parties
agree that further matters of detail, not inconsistent with the general provisions of this Agreement and not provided for in the
Detailed Regulations, may be determined by Postal Administrations of the two countries in accordance with the provisions of the Universal
Postal Union Constitution, Convention and its Detailed Regulations, Insured letters and Boxes Agreement and their Detailed Regulations.
Article 17
ENTRY INTO FORCE
The Agreement shall enter into force with effect from 27 November, 1974. It shall thereafter continue to be in force until it is terminated
by mutual consent at any time or until six months after either of the contracting countries shall have notified the other of its
intention to terminate the agreement.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned, duly authorised for this purpose, have signed this Agreement in two originals.
DONE at Dacca this day the 27th November, nineteen hundred and seventy four.
For the Government of India
Sd/--
RABI RAY
Sr. Member (PO) P&T Board
New Delhi-110001 and
Ex-officio Addl. Secy to the
Govt. of India
For the Government of People’s Republic of Bangladesh
Sd/-
A.M. AHSANULLAH
Director General
Bangladesh Post Office
