
Letter post services are core postal services entailing services of acceptance, conveyance and delivery of letters, postcards, printed matter, cecogrammes and small parcels and these services comprise prevalent part of entire postal services provided by the BH Postal Service.
When sending letter post items (letters, postcards, printed matter, cecogrammes and small parcels), a sender may request special and supplementary services.
Letter post items can be sent as regular mail or booked shipment.
Regular post item is an item submitted directly in the post office for which a sender is not issued a certificate of posting and which is delivered to the addressee without a confirmation of delivery.
In case of booked shipment, the Postal Service keeps a record of acceptance and delivery, and the sender is issued a certificate of posting, i.e. the addressee is required to confirm delivery of the item.
For more information please see the following:
- Types of Letter Post Items,
- Posting of Letter Post Items,
- Dedlines and standards of transportation of delivery of Letter Post Items,
- Prohibited Items.
In domestic and international postal services, letter post items include: letters, postcards, printed matter, cecogrammes and small parcels.
Letter is a mail item containing a written communication in a closed envelope without a value noted, a well as any other item which in regard to its size and weight meets the appropriate requirements, although it does not contain written communication. Utility and other bills, financial statements and reports addressed to a certain addressee are also considered letters.
Size and Weight of Letter Post Items
A letter can weight up to 2 kg. Smallest dimensions of the letter are 90×140 mm, i.e. the sum of the length, width and height cannot exceed 900 mm, provided that none of the three values individually exceeds 600 mm.
The letter may be cylinder shaped where a sum of length and two diameters is minimum 170 mm, and the length of a letter cannot be less than 100 mm. The sum of length and two diameters of a cylinder shaped letter may not exceed 1040 mm, where the length only may not exceed 900 mm.
Standard letter is a letter in a closed monochrome envelope of rectangular shape weighting up to 20 g, thick up to 5 mm. Its length may not be shorter than its width multiplied by 1.4, smallest dimensions of standard letter being 90×140 mm and the maximum dimensions 120 x 235 mm.
Standard letter is also a letter in an envelope with transparent window, which in addition to the above, also has to meet the following requirements:
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Transparent window has to be positioned at least 40 mm from the upper edge of the envelope, 15 mm from the right-side edge or 14 mm from the left-side edge, depending on which side the transparent part is, and 15 mm from the lower edge (permitted tolerance up to 2 mm).
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A transparent window may not be bordered by a ribbon or framed by coloured boundaries and has to enable for easy reading of the addressee’s address.
Right side rectangular area on the standard letter of 40 mm high, measuring from the upper edge, by 74 mm wide, measuring from the right edge, is to be used for indication of postage paid.
Postcard is a mail item made of cardboard or firm paper of rectangular shape mailed without envelope. Smallest size of postcards is 90 x 140 mm and largest one is 120 x 235 mm, with tolerance of up to 2 mm.
Postcards also include all kinds of postcards and greeting cards meeting requirements stipulated by the Rulebook on General Requirements for Provision of Postal Services issued by the BH Postal Service as its own postal securities, which have to have imprinted “DOPISNICA – CARTE POSTALE” on the front side heading.
Printed matter is an open item that does not have features of personal or business correspondence and it is printed in multiple identical copies on paper, cardboard or other material. The printed matter is also an item containing books and print media outlets. Printed matter can weigh up to 2 kg and size of the printed matter corresponds to the size of letters. Exceptionally, printed matter can weight up to 5 kg, if it contains undividable material or constitutes a single item.
Printed matter mailed without specified addressee is considered to be unaddressed printed matter and it does not have to be in envelope. Terms and conditions of delivery of unaddressed printed matter are regulated by agreement between sender and postal operator.
In international postal services, large quantities of printed matter sent by a sender to the same addressee can be packed in one or more special bags (“M” bags). Each individual “M” bag may weight up to 30 kg.
Cecogramme is an open item containing a letter intended for the blind and sight impaired imprinted on a firm paper or similar material. Cecogramme is also a cliche with cecography signs and sound recordings or special paper intended for blind or persons with sight impairment. Cecogramme can weigh up to 7 kg. In top right corner of the address side the sender is to put a mark “SEKOGRAM” (“CECOGRAMME”) or prescribed sticker.
Parcel is an addressed postal item containing goods and other items. The small parcel may contain any document of current and personal correspondence provided it is addressed to the same addressee as parcel and posted by the same sender as the one specified on the parcel.
In the top left corner of the address side, a sender is to put a designation “MALI PAKET” (“PETIT PAQUET”) and his/her address.
Small parcel may weight up to 2 kg.
Posting of Letter Post Items implies acceptance of letter post items submitted by senders in the post office, at sender’s address, in postboxes, collective postboxes or via postman in remote areas.
The following regulations apply for letter post items:
- For letter post items in domestic postal services containing items requiring approval or certification by responsible state authorities, authorised institution or organisation, a sender is obliged to submit such an approval together with the posted item.
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For letter post items in international postal services whose contents is subject to customs and currency control, customs and currency regulations and regulations of the Universal Postal Union will apply. Letter post items in international postal services whose contents is subject to customs examination and currency control can be mailed only as registered mail, insured mail, parcel or EMS mail.
In domestic postal services, letter post item containing live animals can be submitted as parcel or EMS. Exceptionally, letter post items (registered and insured mail) may contain bees, leeches or silkworms. The same regulations apply for international postal services, except for the insured postal item which may not contain live animals. Post items containing live animals have to be sent as urgent mail or EMS.
As a matter of rule, all letter post items in both domestic and international postal services are submitted in post offices. Regular letter items can be submitted also via postboxes, collective postboxes or postman in the remote areas.
In remote areas, in addition to the letter post items above, it is also possible to submit all letter items weighting up to 1 kg of value up to 100.00 KM to the postman, except for the telegram andEMS.
Dedlines and standards of transportation and delivery of Letter Post Items
The deadline and the standard of transportation and delivery of of postal items means the time period from the time when the item is posted until the actual delivery to addressee. The time of posting is stamped on a Certificate of Posting, i.e. on the postal item when no Certificate of Posting is issued to the sender.
Deadlines of transportation and delivery have been defined for letter-post items in domestic postal operation system while the the standards of transportation and delivery for letter-post items have been defined in international postal operation system.
Domestic postal operations
BH Postal Service is obliged to obey the following terms of delivery:
Letter post items submitted and delivered in the same postal centre ( Canton), within:
– one day for priority and urgent items;
– three days for other items.
Letter post items submitted on the area of one postal centre (Canton) to be delivered on the area of another postal centre (Canton) or another postal operator (HP Mostar and PS Banja Luka):
– two days for priority items;
– four days for all other items.
International postal operations
Standards of transportation and delivery of letter-post items (pdf) in international postal operation system represent framework transportation time instead of the warranted time of transporation. The JP BH POŠTA” d.o.o. Sarajevo is not obliged to deliver the letter-post items in international postal operations according to the standards.
Term of delivery does not include:
– day when postal item is submitted;
– period of delay due to incorrect and incomplete address of the addressee;
– period of delay due to Force Majeure or halt in the traffic not caused by postal operator;
– days off and days when postal services are not provided.
– duration time of customs procedure in the country of destination.
Considering that BH Postal Service delivers postal items within Bosnia and Herzegovina and abroad and that it has no insight into the contents of the mailed items, it is of key importance to inform all senders on prohibited items or the items that can be mailed only under certain conditions, in order to make sure senders are protected from potential damages caused by the contents of the postal items, i.e. to protect interests of the country when it comes to posting items internationally.
Posting of the postal items containing following items or matters is prohibited:
- Objects or matters which, by their nature or package, may have harmful effect on regular performance of postal services by representing a threat (in terms of pollution, damage or threat to life) for employees of postal service, postal transportation means and postal equipment or other postal items;
- Explosive and easily flammable objects or objects that may harm other postal items, post offices and equipment, transportation means or be harmful for health and life of people (gunpowder, gasoline, petroleum, strong acids);
- Legally prohibited substances (opium, morphine, cocaine and other drugs) unless exchanged by legally authorised institutions (hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and health institutions), or provided for medicinal and scientific purposes in international services between countries, which accept them under these conditions;
- Objects prohibited for trade in domestic postal services (forbidden publications) and items prohibited to be imported through international postal services in accordance with the laws of recipient country;
- Live animals in letter post items, except for bees, leeches and silkworms. Mailing of live animals in international services is allowed only for the countries that permit such traffic in their domestic services as well;
- Immoral contents.
Post items may not contain live animals, except for bees, beeches and silkworms. In case there is a justified suspicion that the post item contains some of the prohibited items above, the postal operator in charge may have a commission check contents of the mail.
Further procedure for handling postal items containing some of the items specified above is governed by the Rulebook on General Requirements for Provision of Postal Services.
For additional information, please call 1312 (our Contact centar),
or send an e-mail to: kontaktcentar@posta