Addressing Solutions

The UPU has developed two addressing standards: S42 and S53.

Standard S42: International postal address components and templates

The S42 international addressing standard consists of two parts:

S42 part A defines:

• a set of postal address components used in worldwide addresses;
• languages for expressing address templates, i.e. formal descriptions of address formatting rules.

S42 part B:

• provides country-specific address templates. A country defining its S42 template provides precise information about its address elements and formatting rules.
• creates a library of templates that can be easily incorporated into computer systems for managing addresses.

Standard S 53: Exchange of name and address data

S53 facilitates exchange of name and address data between postal authorities, businesses, mailers and other organizations. It incorporates the S42 elements and templates.

This page outlines the process for creating a new template.

Country: submit sample

To launch its template development, the country contacts the S42 expert group by e-mail. The country's expert supplies a sample data set, which should consist of between 20 and 50 address examples representing all the address formats recommended by the postal operator. 

Country and UPU: map addresses into elements

Each address in the sample needs to be mapped into S42 elements reflecting their use in the country. For example, mapping the address line "12 Main Street" involves dividing it into 3 parts: "12", "Main", and "Street", and linking them to appropriate address elements as follows: "12" – street number; "Main" – thoroughfare name; "Street" – thoroughfare type.

UPU: create a draft template based on mapped sample

On the basis of a mapped sample, the S42 expert group creates a template which is fed into a computer program known as a tester. This program reassembles each address from elements and checks the result against the submitted data. The test of the template is positive when all addresses from the sample have been assembled correctly.

Country: validate and approve template 

At the end of the process, the country expert checks that:

• all addresses in the sample data set are properly formatted;
• the sample contains a sufficiently complete representation of formats recommended by the country; and
• the addresses are correctly mapped to S42 elements.

UPU: publish template and deliver certificate

The template developed through this process is published in the next version of standard S42, and the country that developed the template is presented with a “S42 certificate of recognition” during one of the annual Postal Operations Council or Council of Administration sessions.