Change of Address files for 16 countries worldwide are currently available to mailers according to the paper “Change of Address in Countries Worldwide”, released on July 10.  The remaining 176 member countries of the Universal Postal Union do not provide this information to mailers. 

Privacy protections and data security restrictions limit the availability of the information from some countries.  Fees charged to the mail recipient using change of addresses services from their postal service in several of the countries that do offer these files to mailers reduce the number of addresses in the change of address files.

“U.S. mailers are often surprised by how few countries offer change of address information and the restrictions placed on its use,” said Merry Law, author of the paper and editor of the Guide to Worldwide Postal-Code and Address Formats.  “The relatively smaller number of addresses in these files also surprise mailers because most residents and business in the U.S. take advantage of the U.S. Postal Service’s free address change and forwarding services and that is not the case in many countries.”

Those using the change of address files are changed a fee by the administrator of the files in each country.  The fee structure varies by country.  The paper, sponsored by GrayHair Software, Inc. and Deutsche Post Address Global, lists the countries where change of address files are available to mailers.

“Anyone doing business in the global economy will benefit from learning about the availability of change of address information outside the United States.    Stay tuned as the world of global addressing expands and independent experts, like Merry Law, keep us informed of these developments. “ 

The European Union is currently developing new privacy protection regulations that may change the legal framework for change of address files in 8 of the 10 European countries that provide change of address files.

“Change of Address in Countries Worldwide” can be downloaded from WorldVu's web site (http://www.worldvu.com/papers.php). 

Additional papers on issues related to international addressing sponsored by GrayHair Software, Inc. are planned.