Burundi - Illegal Issues of Postage Stamps 2012

Republic of Burundi – Counterfeit postage stamps

Dear Sir/Madam,

The Ministry of Trade, Industry, Posts and Tourism of the REPUBLIC OF BURUNDI asks me to inform UPU member countries of the following:

"The Ministry of Trade, Industry, Posts and Tourism wishes to inform you again of the existence of several illegal issues being sold online in the name of the Republic of Burundi .

The following is a list of these illegal issues in our possession released in 2009, 2010 and 2011 in the name of our country and being sold on the Internet:

– Cats – Fauna

– African Fauna – Animals of the world

– Ferrari – Butterflies

– Fish – Dinosaurs

– Birds – Male chess masters

– Parrots – Submarines

– Dogs – Locomotives

– Owls – Planes of the world war

The following illegal issues were also sold on the Internet in 2009 and 2010:

– Trains

– Animaux sauvages

–  Locomotives 

We condemn such practices and recall that illegal stamp issues harm the reputation of not only Burundi Post, but also philatelic services in general. Furthermore, such issues are a flagrant violation of our national legislation on the production of postage stamps and of article 8 of the Universal Postal Convention and recommendation C 26/2008 of the 24th UPU Congress.

In this connection, we are counting on the initiatives taken by the UPU and the WADP to combat this phenomenon. We are also counting on the solidarity of other designated operators and our philatelic partners, whom we would ask to take the necessary measures to help us identify the perpetrators of these acts and bring them to justice.

We should also remind our philatelic partners and UPU member countries that our legal postage stamps issued since 2002 have been registered on the following website www.wnsstamps.ch."

Yours faithfully,

K.J.S. McKeown

Director of Markets Development

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Note from the PWO

- As of April 30, 2012, which means after more than three months since its publication, this Circular in still not accessible through a link from the WNS site. For this reason we have actually published it on this site. It is a shame that the philatelic team of the UPU doesn't follow the internal recommendation, issued by Mr. K.J.S. McKeown himself, that (logically) stipulates the fast publication of the Circulars.

- The word "Counterfeit" is incorrectly used in this context. It is the task of the UPU IB philatelic team to ensure that a unified terminology is used throughout the Circulars.

- This Circular actually covers hundred of different stamps, offered in different configurations (perforated, imperforated, FDC), and is just another proof that the WNS, after 10 years, hasn't stopped the proliferation of illegal stamps.

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Published: March 25, 2012. Revised: April 30, 2012 Copyright © 2012 by PWO and by Victor Manta, Switzerland. All rights reserved worldwide.

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