The task of the Central Mail Offices at Brussels, Luxembourg and Ispra is to dispatch and distribute the Commission's official mail. All of this - internal and external, postal and of other types - is received, sorted and sent on to its destination. Incoming mail is taken by shuttle service to the individual buildings and given to the messengers of the Directorates-General and other departments for delivery.

The internal mail service must not be used for illegal or irregular purposes or against the interests of the Communities. Its use must be consonant with the provisions of the Regulation on protection of personal data¹ and it must not be used in a way that hinders the mail staff in their work. Using it for commercial transactions or other commercial activities is considered not permitted.

Here is how to use the mail service properly:

1. Official mail

The Central Mail Offices are responsible for seeing to the distribution of all correctly addressed (recipient's name, job title or address²) administrative mail. They may open incoming administrative mail if the information on the envelope is insufficient to identify the addressee. This is done solely for the purpose of routing the mail. The envelope is closed again with sticky tape stating that it was opened by the Central Mail Office.

In principle private mail is not accepted by the Central Mail Offices. Staff are asked to have their private mail sent to their home. Reasonable amounts of both outgoing and incoming mail are however tolerated. Advertising material or other publicity that clearly has no connection with the Commission's activities is not.

• Outgoing private mail is allowed on an occasional basis but it must always carry the correct postage and be clearly addressed and the sender's address must be on the back of the envelope.

• Incoming private mail is permitted in limited quantities. It should be marked as private so that if the Directorate-General routes incoming mail through a registry or central mail unit it is not opened before reaching the addressee.

• It is acceptable for newly arrived staff to receive bank mail and mail from the administrative authorities of the host country. Staff should within a reasonable time arrange for this mail to be sent to their private address.

Registered mail and mail paid for on delivery. The Central Mail Offices do not handle outgoing private registered letters. Staff are asked to have incoming registered mail delivered to their private address. Incoming mail to be paid for on delivery is not accepted and the Central Mail Offices can make no payment in connection with it. The Commission cannot be held responsible for loss or non-delivery of this type of mail.

Return of private mail if no address found and of refused private mail. In cases where an addressee is named but the address given is incorrect the Central Mail Offices and messengers in the buildings try to find the correct address. If they are unsuccessful, i.e. if the addressee cannot be found, and the mail appears to be private it cannot be opened within the Commission and is returned to the sender. If there is no sender's address on the envelope it is returned to the postal authority of the country of arrival, which will deal with it according to its standard practice.

Mail that is being refused will be treated in the same way.

Incoming mail from mass postings that is visibly of a commercial nature will be delivered to addressees (provided it is correctly addressed) up to 01/05/2004. A label will be affixed reminding addressees that they should have this mail sent to their private address. Senders will be informed that after 01/05/2004 this type of mail will be returned at their own expense and, if it continues to be sent, destroyed.

In particular, these provisions will cover distribution of the free periodicals that are sent in large numbers to staff who have not requested them. In this connection, it is worth pointing out that Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 does not allow the Commission's mail service to pass on the private addresses of staff without their consent.

Footnotes

1. Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data.

2. For the address either the recipient's administrative assignment (Directorate-General, Directorate, Unit) or office location (building, floor, office number) can be used. Use of the official address alone - e.g. for Brussels: European Commission, B-1049 Brussels - is also acceptable but adds to the mail staff's work. Staff are therefore asked to help the Mail Service by notifying their office address to their correspondents.

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   Auteur: ADMIN D