M/428 - Postal Services and Equipment

The revision of EN 14142-1 aims at bringing together current an ongoing efforts within the Universal Postal Union (a special organisation of the United Nations), the CEN and ISO to create one global standard under the ISO/TC211 for International postal address components and template languages.
This document forms part 4 of ISO 19160. ISO 19160 consists of the following parts, under the general title Addressing:
Part 1: Terminology and conceptual model
Part 2: Good practices for address assignment schemes
Part 3: Quality management for address data
Part 4: International postal address components and template languages
Traditionally, postal operators have been highly flexible with regard to the manner in which postal items can be addressed: any form and content of address was acceptable as long as it permitted sufficiently unambiguous determination of the delivery point. Even today, many posts pride themselves on their ability, using staff intelligence and local demographic knowledge, to deliver postal items carrying incomplete or unusual address representations.
It has become more and more vital to ensure that the vast majority of postal items are addressed in a way which can be processed automatically, without risk of misinterpretation.
Today, the vast majority of postal items carry printed addresses which are extracted from computer databases.
Such databases need to be maintained in the face of population mobility, creation and suppression of delivery points and changes in their specification such as renaming of streets, renumbering of properties, etc. Moreover, there is a growing tendency for companies to exchange or trade address data and, in the context of the European Single Market, for companies in one country to hold address data of organisations and individuals in other countries, which might use different approaches to the structuring of printed addresses.
Addresses can be rendered according to rules that differ from country to country or from one mailing to another. This part of ISO 19160 does not impose any obligation on countries or mailers on how addresses shall be rendered but provides a language to express rendering rules recommended by postal operators or for various mailing purposes.
Templates specified according to this part of ISO 19160 may be used to exchange information about address rendering rules on international cross border mail and domestic mail.
This part of ISO 19160 defines key terms, a dictionary of postal address components and constraints on the use of the components. Further this part of ISO 19160 defines languages suitable for human comprehension and computer processing to formally express address rendering rules that stipulate how a postal address is to be written, including the order in which postal address components are to appear, required and optional components, and the presentation or rendition of the components, subject to constraints on the space available for that task. A formal expression of address rendering rules provided in one of the specified languages is defined in this part of ISO 19160 as postal address template.
This standard provides a dictionary of the possible components of postal addresses, together with examples of and constraints on their use.
Specifically, this part of ISO 19160The standard defines three hierarchical levels of postal address component:
> segments, such as addressee specification, which correspond to major logical portions of a postal address;
> constructs, such as organisation identification, which group elements within segments into units which are meaningful for human interpretation;
> elements, such as organisation name or legal status, which correspond to the lowest level of constructs, i.e., those which are not themselves made up of subordinate elements, though they may be sub-divided for technical purposes.
To cover multiple occurrences and locations of elements in an address, and to be able where necessary to work with sub-divisions of eleme

ISO 19160-4:2017 defines key terms for postal addressing, postal address components and constraints on their use.
Specifically, ISO 19160-4:2017 defines postal address components organized into three hierarchical levels:
- elements, such as organization name or postcode, which have well-defined conceptual meaning and are not themselves made up of subordinate components, though they may be sub-divided for technical purposes;
- constructs, such as organization identification, which group elements into units form a logical portion of a postal address;
- segments, such as addressee specification, which group-related postal address constructs and/or postal address elements into units with a specific defined function.
ISO 19160-4:2017 also specifies a mechanism for creation of sub-elements, which correspond to either sub-divisions of element content, such as door type or door indicator or to multiple occurrences and locations of elements in an address, such as levels of administrative regions.
ISO 19160-4:2017 does not specify the length of any component nor the value range of any component.
Moreover, ISO 19160-4:2017 defines the codes to identify elements and sub-elements.
Further, ISO 19160-4:2017 specifies postal address rendering rules. This includes identification and ordering of output lines in a rendered address, conditions for selection of candidate lines, the order and concatenation of postal address components, required and optional components, parameters to contextualize address for rendering and the formatting of the components, subject to constraints on the space available for that task. Postal address rendering rules are represented in ISO 19160-4:2017 as a postal address template.
Finally, ISO 19160-4:2017 specifies language suitable for computer processing to formally express postal address templates.

This European Standard specifies methods for measuring the end-to-end transit-time of domestic and cross-border bulk mail, collected, processed and delivered by postal service operators. It considers methods using representative end-to-end samples for all types of bulk-mail services with defined transit-time service-levels as offered to the postal customer. It specifies a set of minimum requirements for the design of a quality-of-service measurement system for bulk mail, involving the selection and distribution of test mail sent by business senders and received by selected panellists.
This European Standard is applicable to the measurement of end-to-end priority and non-priority bulk-mail services. For the purpose of this standard, bulk mail services can include all types of addressed bulk mail including, but not limited to letter mail, direct mail, magazines and newspapers and encombrant-format mailings.
This European Standard relates to the measurement of bulk-mail services offered to businesses that have pick-ups at their offices or give their mail to postal service operators. If a third party agent acts for the postal operator, then the time the mail is handed over to the agent will form part of the measurement. Where a third party agent acts for the sending customer, the measurement will be from the point when mail is handed over to the postal operator.
This European Standard is of modular structure. It is designed to assess the service performance of postal operators for bulk mail services on the level of a single bulk mailing as defined by the postal customer or any aggregations thereof, including the performance of an individual customer / operator or the performance of a group of customers / operators or the performance at national level.
The standardized QoS measurement-method provides a uniform way for measuring the end-to-end transit time of postal items. Using a standardized measurement-method will ensure that the measurement will be done in an objective and equal way for all operators in accordance with the requirements of the Directive 97/67/EC and its amendments.
The end-to-end service measured may be provided by one operator or by a group of operators working either together in the same distribution chain or parallel in different distribution chains. The method for end-to-end measurement specified in this European Standard is not designed to provide results for the measurement of parts of the distribution chain.
This standard does not include other service performance indicators than those related to end-to-end transit time. In particular, this standard does not measure whether the timings of collections meet customers’ requirements.
The transit-time quality-of-service result will be expressed as percentage of mail delivered by, on or between expected dates. These dates can be defined absolute as calendar-days or relative to the date of induction. The transit time calculation rule will be in whole days.
This quality of service indicator does not measure the postal operator’s overall performance in a way, which provides direct comparison of postal service operators. This European Standard nevertheless provides minimum requirements for the comparability of end-to-end transit-time measurement results of specific bulk mailings.
This European Standard is not applicable for the measurement of end-to-end transit-times of single-piece mail services and hybrid mail, which require different measurement systems and methodologies (see, for example, EN 13850, Postal Services - Quality of Services - Measurement of the transit time of end-to-end services for single piece priority mail and first class mail. (...)

This European Standard specifies methods for measuring the end-to-end transit-time of domestic and cross-border bulk mail, collected, processed and delivered by postal service operators. It considers methods using representative end-to-end samples for all types of bulk-mail services with defined transit-time service-levels as offered to the postal customer. It specifies a set of minimum requirements for the design of a quality-of-service measurement system for bulk mail, involving the selection and distribution of test mail sent by business senders and received by selected panellists.
This European Standard is applicable to the measurement of end-to-end priority and non-priority bulk-mail services. For the purpose of this standard, bulk mail services can include all types of addressed bulk mail including, but not limited to letter mail, direct mail, magazines and newspapers and encombrant-format mailings.
This European Standard relates to the measurement of bulk-mail services offered to businesses that have pick-ups at their offices or give their mail to postal service operators. If a third party agent acts for the postal operator, then the time the mail is handed over to the agent will form part of the measurement. Where a third party agent acts for the sending customer, the measurement will be from the point when mail is handed over to the postal operator.
This European Standard is of modular structure. It is designed to assess the service performance of postal operators for bulk mail services on the level of a single bulk mailing as defined by the postal customer or any aggregations thereof, including the performance of an individual customer / operator or the performance of a group of customers / operators or the performance at national level.
The standardized QoS measurement-method provides a uniform way for measuring the end-to-end transit time of postal items. Using a standardized measurement-method will ensure that the measurement will be done in an objective and equal way for all operators in accordance with the requirements of the Directive 97/67/EC and its amendments.
The end-to-end service measured may be provided by one operator or by a group of operators working either together in the same distribution chain or parallel in different distribution chains. The method for end-to-end measurement specified in this European Standard is not designed to provide results for the measurement of parts of the distribution chain.
This standard does not include other service performance indicators than those related to end-to-end transit time. In particular, this standard does not measure whether the timings of collections meet customers’ requirements.
The transit-time quality-of-service result will be expressed as percentage of mail delivered by, on or between expected dates. These dates can be defined absolute as calendar-days or relative to the date of induction. The transit time calculation rule will be in whole days.
This quality of service indicator does not measure the postal operator’s overall performance in a way, which provides direct comparison of postal service operators. This European Standard nevertheless provides minimum requirements for the comparability of end-to-end transit-time measurement results of specific bulk mailings.
This European Standard is not applicable for the measurement of end-to-end transit-times of single-piece mail services and hybrid mail, which require different measurement systems and methodologies (see, for example, EN 13850, Postal Services - Quality of Services - Measurement of the transit time of end-to-end services for single piece priority mail and first class mail. (...)

This European Standard specifies methods for measuring the end-to-end transit time of the
domestic and crossborder, priority and non-priority, bulk mail, collected, processed and distributed
by postal seNice operators. It considers methods using a representative end-to-end sample of
addressed bulk mail. End-to-end is defined as from the point mail is placed into the
collection/acceptance system under the responsibility of the postal operators, to the final delivery
point under the responsibility of the postal operators.
For the purpose of this European Standard, bulk mail can include all types of addressed bulk mail:
letter mail, direct mail, magazines, and newspapers, unless otherwise indicated. The overall quality
of seNice result should be expressed as the percentage of mail delivered within J + n days end toend
according to the EC postal directive or the percentage of mail delivered by, on or between
expected dates.
The measurement should be in whole days and not be restricted by reference to a specific time of
day for delivery. This quality of seNice indicator does not measure the postal operator's overall
performance in a way which provides direct comparison of postal seNice operators, and does not
include other seNice performance indicators than those related to transit time. In particular this
European Standard does not measure whether the timing of collections meets customers'
requirements.
The European Standard can be used to assess the performance of postal operators for specific
products or seNices at a national level or for an individual or a group of customers.
The European Standard should not be used to assess the overall performance of a group of
products or seNices which have other seNice specifications in terms of transit time expectation.
It specifies a set of requirements for the design of a quality of seNice measurement system for
bulk mail, involving the selection and distribution of test mail sent and received by selected
panellists. The test mail sample design gives the specifications for the mail to be representative of
real mail flows.
This European Standard relates to the measurement of seNices offered to businesses that have
pick ups at their offices or give their mail to postal seNice operators. If a third party agent acts for
the postal operator then the time the mail is handed over to the agent should form part of the
measurement. Where a third party agent acts for the sending customer then the measurement
should be from the point when mail is handed over to the postal operator.
For technical reasons the European Standard may not in all parts be suitable for the measuring of
very small volumes of mail and for operators with limited coverage. It is not applicable for
measuring the end-to-end transit time distribution of single piece mailings which require different
measurement systems. The European Standard EN 13850 has been developed for single piece
priority mail and EN 14508 for single piece non-priority mail.
This European standard includes specifications for the quality control and auditing of the
measurement system. In certain circumstances this European Standard allows a choice between
alternatives or deviations to be made subject to the approval of the regulator. This approval is only
necessary if the product or seNice is within the universal seNice obligation.

An IDT-PAE interface enables interoperability among several systems and processes by providing specifications to the following requirements:
a)   Data Collection and Transfer:  Specification of data transported from the devices to higher level systems.  There may be more than one permissible protocol referring to different OSI layers. The standard will define where the communication requires polling and where asynchronous messages are used.
   The basis is messages triggered by events.
b)   Data Storage and Format:  Specification how data is formatted and structured. This concerns the choice between XML, CSV, EDI, JSON and other formats including possible binary representations.
c)   Data Model:  Specification of the semantics (meanings) behind the data. This is the most important part and the one of the most important objectives for the specification. This means that conceptual data model and its mapping to the Data Format will be developed. Major focus on specifications level of detail will be placed in order to provide a document that will provide detailed specification information without being too general or too specific.

This European Standard specifies methods for measuring the end-to-end transit-time of domestic and cross-border bulk mail, collected, processed and delivered by postal service operators. It considers methods using representative end-to-end samples for all types of bulk-mail services with defined transit-time service-levels as offered to the postal customer. It specifies a set of minimum requirements for the design of a quality-of-service measurement system for bulk mail, involving the selection and distribution of test mail sent by business senders and received by selected panellists.
This European Standard is applicable to the measurement of end-to-end priority and non-priority bulk-mail services. For the purpose of this standard, bulk mail services can include all types of addressed bulk mail including, but not limited to letter mail, direct mail, magazines and newspapers and encombrant-format mailings.
This European Standard relates to the measurement of bulk-mail services offered to businesses that have pick-ups at their offices or give their mail to postal service operators. If a third party agent acts for the postal operator, then the time the mail is handed over to the agent will form part of the measurement. Where a third party agent acts for the sending customer, the measurement will be from the point when mail is handed over to the postal operator.
This European Standard is of modular structure. It is designed to assess the service performance of postal operators for bulk mail services on the level of a single bulk mailing as defined by the postal customer or any aggregations thereof, including the performance of an individual customer / operator or the performance of a group of customers / operators or the performance at national level.
The standardized QoS measurement-method provides a uniform way for measuring the end-to-end transit time of postal items. Using a standardized measurement-method will ensure that the measurement will be done in an objective and equal way for all operators in accordance with the requirements of the Directive 97/67/EC and its amendments.
The end-to-end service measured may be provided by one operator or by a group of operators working either together in the same distribution chain or parallel in different distribution chains. The method for end-to-end measurement specified in this European Standard is not designed to provide results for the measurement of parts of the distribution chain.
This standard does not include other service performance indicators than those related to end-to-end transit time. In particular, this standard does not measure whether the timings of collections meet customers’ requirements.
The transit-time quality-of-service result will be expressed as percentage of mail delivered by, on or between expected dates. These dates can be defined absolute as calendar-days or relative to the date of induction. The transit time calculation rule will be in whole days.
This quality of service indicator does not measure the postal operator’s overall performance in a way, which provides direct comparison of postal service operators. This European Standard nevertheless provides minimum requirements for the comparability of end-to-end transit-time measurement results of specific bulk mailings.
This European Standard is not applicable for the measurement of end-to-end transit-times of single-piece mail services and hybrid mail, which require different measurement systems and methodologies (see, for example, EN 13850, Postal Services - Quality of Services - Measurement of the transit time of end-to-end services for single piece priority mail and first class mail. (...)

Method for measurement of parcel transit time for cross-border parcels is mainly from an e-merchant perspective, especially for small and medium-sized companies. Based on an earlier study, the method will be based on events of the track and trace process.
Events used need to be kept simple and transparent for the measurement of the complex matrix of the flows between European countries.
The last part of the process (delivery options) is dependent on the country and on its historical development of postal and logistic operators - this part of the logistics process is currently too complex for simple measurement. Therefore the Technical Specification (TS) will focus on the main part of the process: from entrance (hand over) in the logistics chain to the first attempt of delivery.
(...)
The Technical Specification should:
-   be technically and supplier neutral;
-   not be limited to postal operators but open to all operators transporting parcels;
-   take into account events relevant for the customer’s (sender or receiver) needs;
-   define calculation rules;
-   be easy to implement.
This Technical Specification does not set quality of service standards or targets.

An IDT-PAE interface enables interoperability among several systems and processes by providing specifications to the following requirements:
a)   Data Collection and Transfer:  Specification of data transported from the devices to higher level systems.  There may be more than one permissible protocol referring to different OSI layers. The standard will define where the communication requires polling and where asynchronous messages are used.
   The basis is messages triggered by events.
b)   Data Storage and Format:  Specification how data is formatted and structured. This concerns the choice between XML, CSV, EDI, JSON and other formats including possible binary representations.
c)   Data Model:  Specification of the semantics (meanings) behind the data. This is the most important part and the one of the most important objectives for the specification. This means that conceptual data model and its mapping to the Data Format will be developed. Major focus on specifications level of detail will be placed in order to provide a document that will provide detailed specification information without being too general or too specific.

Method for measurement of parcel transit time for cross-border parcels is mainly from an e-merchant perspective, especially for small and medium-sized companies. Based on an earlier study, the method will be based on events of the track and trace process.
Events used need to be kept simple and transparent for the measurement of the complex matrix of the flows between European countries.
The last part of the process (delivery options) is dependent on the country and on its historical development of postal and logistic operators - this part of the logistics process is currently too complex for simple measurement. Therefore the Technical Specification (TS) will focus on the main part of the process: from entrance (hand over) in the logistics chain to the first attempt of delivery.
(...)
The Technical Specification should:
-   be technically and supplier neutral;
-   not be limited to postal operators but open to all operators transporting parcels;
-   take into account events relevant for the customer’s (sender or receiver) needs;
-   define calculation rules;
-   be easy to implement.
This Technical Specification does not set quality of service standards or targets.

TC origin - Mistakes in cross references

TC origin - Mistakes in cross references

This Technical Specification describes the technical features of parcel boxes for end use. This covers technical features such as size of parcels, ergonomics and safety, corrosion and water penetration resistance and security of delivery.

This Technical Specification describes the technical features of parcel boxes for end use. This covers technical features such as size of parcels, ergonomics and safety, corrosion and water penetration resistance and security of delivery.

This Technical Report specifies methods for measuring the quality of a re-forwarding service of domestic addressed mail that is collected, processed and delivered by postal service operators. As a European Standard or technical specification it relates to the measurement of services given to household and business customers who receive mail at their homes, their post office boxes, or at their office premises and have contracted their national Postal Operator (PO) to re-forward their mail for a defined stretch of time to an address that deviates from the one presented on the postal items that are to be delivered to them.
It is not the purpose of this standard to measure the POs performance in a way that provides direct comparison of postal service providers.

This Technical Report specifies methods for measuring the quality of a re-forwarding service of domestic addressed mail that is collected, processed and delivered by postal service operators. As a European Standard or technical specification it relates to the measurement of services given to household and business customers who receive mail at their homes, their post office boxes, or at their office premises and have contracted their national Postal Operator (PO) to re-forward their mail for a defined stretch of time to an address that deviates from the one presented on the postal items that are to be delivered to them.
It is not the purpose of this standard to measure the POs performance in a way that provides direct comparison of postal service providers.

CEN/TR 16706 provides the results of a feasibility study to determine whether a European Standard for the measurement of incorrect delivery could be developed. CEN/TC331 decided a European Standard was not feasible but that the results should be kept and the report transferred into this Technical Report.

A feasibility study has been performed to see whether a standard for this subject can be developed. CEN/TC331 decided it was not feasible but the results should be kept therefore the report is transferred into a Technical Report.
Registered postal items contain - by nature - important messages or goods. Any of such items, which may be delivered to a person not being authorized to receive them may cause substantial problems, even if the correct addressee receives it afterwards. The knowledge of the quality performed by the operator would therefore give the customer an indication, to which extend registered postal items are delivered.
It was originally aimed to specify requirements for a method and its implementation aiming at measuring another aspect of the quality of delivery. It deals specifically with registered postal items delivered to someone not authorized to get them.

This European Standard specifies the requirements and the test methods of the apertures for the delivery of letter post items when fitted in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. It takes into account security, impregnability, safety and performance for the recipient, and ergonomics and efficiency for delivery personnel. It allows the daily delivery in good condition of a great majority of letter post items.

This European Standard specifies the requirements and the test methods of the apertures for the delivery of letter post items when fitted in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions.
It takes into account security, impregnability, safety and performance for the recipient, and ergonomics and efficiency for delivery personnel. It allows the daily delivery in good condition of a great majority of letter post items.

This Technical Specification specifies the sort plan file content and structure. It does not deal with other configuration files in sorting machines nor is it applicable to the transport mechanism. The content of a sort plan allows the specification of the following capabilities: - sorting by address and non-address attributes; - sorting of code ranges; - sorting of rejects; - support of display and label texts; - dynamic outlet groups; - sorting to more than one outlet; - overflow handling; - support of cut off time before dispatch; - sequence sorting; - provide volume information (option); - support of Cards; - possibility to add simple manufacturer specific information; - support of various sort code formats and non-address attributes; - support of various display and label formats; - check against characteristics of the sorting machine.

This Technical Specification specifies the sort plan file content and structure. It does not deal with other configuration files in sorting machines nor is it applicable to the transport mechanism.
The content of a sort plan allows the specification of the following capabilities:  
-   sorting by address and non-address attributes;
-   sorting of code ranges;
-   sorting of rejects;
-   support of display and label texts;
-   dynamic outlet groups;
-   sorting to more than one outlet;
-   overflow handling;
-   support of cut off time before dispatch;
-   sequence sorting;
-   provide volume information (option);
-   support of Cards;
-   possibility to add simple manufacturer specific information;
-   support of various sort code formats and non-address attributes;
-   support of various display and label formats;
-   check against characteristics of the sorting machine.

This Technical Specification specifies a methodology that allows postal operators to define specific statements of mailing submission customised according to their environment and applications.
The document defines information requirements for existing generic postal information processing applications related to major postal functions, namely operations, finance and marketing by specifically identifying the information that could be collected within the mailer’s domain and transmitted to the postal domain.
In addition, this document defines the organisation of data into messages by describing data content, format and communication protocol suitable for communication of data originating in the mailer’s domain.
The specification also provides a detailed analysis and recommendations for implementing application level security threats and countermeasures particularly relevant for postal revenue protection in controlled mail entry settings.
Finally, this document provides several examples of concrete statements of mailing submissions and an example of a secure communication protocol recommended for transmission of such statements.
NOTE   The SMS describes letter mail or flats that are submitted for distribution and would not deal explicitly with content of letters or flats whether it concerns customs or any other party that could in principle be interested in knowing the content of these mail units.

This Technical Specification describes the “Open Standard Interface between Image Processor, Machine Control and Image Controller” (IP/MC/IC Interface) in the context of postal automation equipment.
The following architectural overview is the basis for this interface standardization:
It was agreed to unify the interfaces between
a) Image Processor and Image Controller,
b) Image Processor and Machine Control and
c) Machine Control and Image Controller
and to produce one common specification for this so-called IP/MC/IC Interface.
The communication partners of this interface will be called Machine or Machine Control (MC) on the one side and Reading/Coding (RC) System on the other side.
There may be several instances of this interface, depending on the implementation of the MC and the connected RC.
NOTE   interfaces for synchronizing the lifted images with their mailpiece_IDs provided by the machine are not shown in the figure above and are not subject of standardization within the first release of this interface.
From the customer point of view the following two scenarios are relevant. The systems MACHINE and RC SYSTEM are to be considered as "black boxes" thus not detailing internal system structure and interfaces.
1) The Machine already includes Camera and Image Processor and will be connected to a 3rd-party RC System including Image Controller and Enrichment Devices.
2) The Machine will be connected to a 3rd-party RC System including Camera, Image Processor, Image Controller and Enrichment Devices. The Camera and (possibly) the Image Processor will have to be mechanically integrated into the machine.
NOTE   The camera can be provided by any 3rd-party. This should not impede on the IP/MC/IC interfaces !
This standard is arranged under 4 main clauses as described in Figure 4.
- UCM (Use Case Model) describes the use cases for the IP/MC/IC Interface using sequence diagrams with messages.
- IDD (Interface Design Description) defines the data model (...)

This Technical Specification specifies a methodology that allows postal operators to define specific statements of mailing submission customised according to their environment and applications.
The document defines information requirements for existing generic postal information processing applications related to major postal functions, namely operations, finance and marketing by specifically identifying the information that could be collected within the mailer’s domain and transmitted to the postal domain.
In addition, this document defines the organisation of data into messages by describing data content, format and communication protocol suitable for communication of data originating in the mailer’s domain.
The specification also provides a detailed analysis and recommendations for implementing application level security threats and countermeasures particularly relevant for postal revenue protection in controlled mail entry settings.
Finally, this document provides several examples of concrete statements of mailing submissions and an example of a secure communication protocol recommended for transmission of such statements.
NOTE   The SMS describes letter mail or flats that are submitted for distribution and would not deal explicitly with content of letters or flats whether it concerns customs or any other party that could in principle be interested in knowing the content of these mail units.

This Technical Specification describes the “Open Standard Interface between Image Processor, Machine Control and Image Controller” (IP/MC/IC Interface) in the context of postal automation equipment.
The following architectural overview is the basis for this interface standardization:
It was agreed to unify the interfaces between
a) Image Processor and Image Controller,
b) Image Processor and Machine Control and
c) Machine Control and Image Controller
and to produce one common specification for this so-called IP/MC/IC Interface.
The communication partners of this interface will be called Machine or Machine Control (MC) on the one side and Reading/Coding (RC) System on the other side.
There may be several instances of this interface, depending on the implementation of the MC and the connected RC.
NOTE   interfaces for synchronizing the lifted images with their mailpiece_IDs provided by the machine are not shown in the figure above and are not subject of standardization within the first release of this interface.
From the customer point of view the following two scenarios are relevant. The systems MACHINE and RC SYSTEM are to be considered as "black boxes" thus not detailing internal system structure and interfaces.
1) The Machine already includes Camera and Image Processor and will be connected to a 3rd-party RC System including Image Controller and Enrichment Devices.
2) The Machine will be connected to a 3rd-party RC System including Camera, Image Processor, Image Controller and Enrichment Devices. The Camera and (possibly) the Image Processor will have to be mechanically integrated into the machine.
NOTE   The camera can be provided by any 3rd-party. This should not impede on the IP/MC/IC interfaces !
This standard is arranged under 4 main clauses as described in Figure 4.
- UCM (Use Case Model) describes the use cases for the IP/MC/IC Interface using sequence diagrams with messages.
- IDD (Interface Design Description) defines the data model (...)

This Technical Report consists of three parts.
The first part defines, describes and explains basic concepts typical to all mail communication systems such as domains, parties, agents and their role in the system, physical and informational objects, processes, interfaces and relationships.  
The first part does not cover more detailed technical aspects of the main concepts such as:
- detailed description of mail units and sets, their attributes and methods of collection/capture of their values;
- applications describing specific use of the information describing basic objects by mailers, postal operators and recipients;
- data elements, data constructs and message descriptions;
- communication protocols and infrastructure for message transport including transport of messages through a print-scan channel (or paper channel);
- message security issues related to individual messages: confidentiality and integrity of data, authentication and non-repudiation;
- printing symbology, physical placement of data elements and symbols, their orientation and dimensions, and inks and print quality.
The second part of this Technical Report defines the concepts necessary and sufficient to describe customer directed information that can be captured by post and made accessible to customers using post mailer interface. This report explains and describes relationships between these concepts.  
This report provides a comprehensive list of mail unit attributes that are involved in forming observations and events significant for postal customers. This report describes a methodology suitable for the selection of observation points within postal domain process where information collected in observations is most useful for customers. The report does not cover:
- applications describing the use of collected event information;
- messages and protocols;
- communication infrastructure.
The third part of this Technical Report describes:
- list of specific events knowledge (...)

This Technical Report is an extension as a guide to the European Standard EN 14012 with regard to damage of postal items. EN 14012 recommends:
The continual improvement of the overall quality of service is an objective of the complaint handling system, and using the information from the complaint handling process to improve the overall quality of service should be a permanent objective of any postal organization.
Complaint handling processes should allow analysis of complaint causes.
However, it does not contain detailed guidelines to possible solutions. Damages are a rare event and a standard for measurement proved not to be feasible. This document contains a set of best practices dedicated to use by postal operators regardless of their size and users of postal services.

This Technical Report is an extension as a guide to the European Standard EN 14012 with regard to damage of postal items. EN 14012 recommends:
The continual improvement of the overall quality of service is an objective of the complaint handling system, and using the information from the complaint handling process to improve the overall quality of service should be a permanent objective of any postal organization.
Complaint handling processes should allow analysis of complaint causes.
However, it does not contain detailed guidelines to possible solutions. Damages are a rare event and a standard for measurement proved not to be feasible. This document contains a set of best practices dedicated to use by postal operators regardless of their size and users of postal services.

This Technical Report consists of three parts.
The first part defines, describes and explains basic concepts typical to all mail communication systems such as; domains, parties, agents and their role in the system, physical and informational objects, processes, interfaces and relationships.
The first part does not cover more detailed technical aspects of the main concepts such as:
- a detailed description of mail units and sets, their attributes and methods of collection/capture of their values;
- applications describing specific use of the information describing basic objects by mailers, postal operators and recipients;
- data elements, data constructs and message descriptions;
- communication protocols and infrastructure for message transport including transport of messages through a print-scan channel (or paper channel);
- message security issues related to individual messages: confidentiality and integrity of data, authentication and non-repudiation;
- printing symbology, physical placement of data elements and symbols, their orientation and dimensions, and inks and print quality.
The second part of this Technical Report defines the necessary and sufficient concepts for customer directed information that can be captured by post and made accessible to customers using post mailer interface. This report explains and describes relationships between these concepts.
This report provides a comprehensive list of mail unit attributes that are involved in forming observations and events significant for postal customers. This report describes a methodology suitable for the selection of observation points within postal domain process where information collected in observations is most useful for customers. The report does not cover:
- applications describing the use of collected event information;
- messages and protocols;
- communication infrastructure.
The third part of this Technical Report describes:
- a list of specific events knowledge of which is valuable to postal customers (mail senders and recipients) and could be made available to such customers;
- underlying mail unit attributes that form corresponding observations;
- data construct supporting practical access to information collected within postal domain about events, underlying observations and expectations, and in particular information about events, observations and expectations that are valuable to postal customers.
This Technical Report also provides an example of application that demonstrates the use of specific events and data constructs.
This Technical Report makes use of XML schema in describing relevant data constructs. Actual communication messages can be built from data constructs described in this report. However, this report does not specify the structure of specific messages, nor does it preclude using mechanisms other than XML schema to describe data constructs.