Printed Matter - FAQ

Printed Matter

Letterpost item for sending printed material weighing up to 2 kg.

Electronic tracking is possible for insured and registered items. The system for electronic tracking and tracing of postal items enables customers of postal services to receive information about the status of certain types of registered postal items by contacting the Call Center at 0700 100 300 or by visiting the corporate website of the Post of Serbia.

Electronic tracking is provided on the website of the Post of Serbia, based on the reception number i.e. “bar code” of the registered item. Information on the registered item status can also be received by contacting the Call Center at 0700 100 300.

  • The user of postal services proves their identity with the following identification documents: identity card;
  • passport;
  • refugee identity card;
  • other documents issued by a competent state body which are officially recorded and which contain a photograph, a registered number of the document, name and place of the issuer, and personal data (name and surname);
  • foreign passport, national identity card for foreign citizens, passport for foreign citizens, and identity card for foreign citizens issued by competent authorities in the Republic, as well as other documents containing a photograph, based on which the identity of its holder – foreign citizen can be determined.

Exceptionally, a witness statement, signed next to the signature of the recipient, can be used as a proof of identity, with the obligation of including data from the personal document on the basis of which the identity of the witness had been determined.

Postal item may contain only one address of the sender and one address of the recipient. On the address side of every item, the address of the recipient must be written clearly and legibly, containing all the data, so as to ensure quick and proper dispatch and delivery.

Address data must be written one below the other in the following order:

  • title, name and surname, or name of the recipient;
  • street name, number, sub-number, apartment number or PO Box number, or name and number of a military post office, or a mark “post-restant” / “poste-restante”;
  • name of the settlement (destination);
  • postal number and name of the delivery post office;
  • postal address code (PAК). For items addressed to “post-restant”, PO Box, or a military post office, the sender is not required to specify the postal address code (PAК) of the destination post office;
  • name of the destination country, in international postal traffic.

At least the right half of the address side of the item is intended for the address of the recipient, postal stamps, franking and stamping, or labels that replace them. Address of the recipient must be parallel to the longer side of the item. For items addressed to the recipient who is a sub-tenant, apart from the name and surname of the recipient, the name and surname of the landlord has to be specified as well. In domestic postal traffic, the address should be written in Serbian language, in Cyrillic or Latin script, and in Arabic numbers. In international postal traffic, address of the recipient should be written in Latin script and in Arabic numbers. The address can also be written in the language of the destination country, provided that the name of the destination country is written in Latin script as well.

Examples of proper addressing

Postal items must not contain: dangerous and harmful substances, items whose transmission endangers health and life of humans and animals and other postal items, narcotics, except when the recipient and the sender are authorized by law to trade in drugs, live animals, except animals whose transport is determined by general conditions for the provision of postal services, other goods and objects whose transport is prohibited by law and other regulations.

Packing means placing the content of the item in the appropriate wrapping, in order to secure the content. The package must match the type, nature, content, form, size, weight, and value of the item.

The sender is required to pack the item in such a way so as to protect its content, employees who perform the sorting of the items, other items, and postal equipment. All postal items must be packed, except those which, due to their content, do not require packing (cases, barrels, pieces of wood, etc.)

The sender is required to tie each item, whose shape so allows, or whose packing does not provide full security for the content of the item in all stages of postal services, with a rope, crosswise, bearing in mind that the strength of the rope must correspond to the weight of the item.

In case that the sender submits an item which does not meet the requirements regarding packing and closing, they are required to eliminate all irregularities. Otherwise, the employee may refuse to accept the item.

Postal items are received:

  • at post offices (for all types of postal items);
  • by placing them in postal and collective mailboxes (only for unregistered items);
  • at the address of the sender (only those items whose reception is prescribed by a special act of the Post, and only upon the signing of the agreement with the customer).

The delivery of postal items means delivery of items to the recipient or an authorised person at the indicated address (home delivery), or handing over the item to the recipient or an authorised person at the premises of a post office (delivery), by placing the item in home or collective mailbox. Unregistered letterpost items may be delivered to home mailboxes, while registered letterpost items are delivered with the confirmation of receipt and signature of the recipient/authorised person on the relevant postal document. In case that the delivery of the registered postal item is unsuccessful, the postman shall leave a notice of delivery to the recipient, informing them when and in which post office to collect the item.

Postal items, except court letters, are being stored in the post office for 20 (twenty) days, except in the following cases:

  • 5 (five) working days - for postal items for recipients using a PO Box;
  • 30 (thirty) days - for postal items addressed to the poste restante;

The time limit for storing postal items is calculated from the day following the day of leaving the report on the arrival of postal items, i.e. from the day of arrival for items that are addressed to poste restante and users of PO Boxes.

Time limits set out in this Article shall apply unless the Post has agreed on different storing time limits with the sender.

The post office is required to accept returned misdelivered items. The post office shall compensate the entire amount potentially charged upon delivery to the person who received the item. The post office is required to accept misdelivered items even if they had been opened. For returned postal items that had been opened, the post office shall compose a note on the irregularity of the item. Postmen may accept the already delivered item at the address of the recipient only if they had been misdelivered and returned unopened.

The user can submit a claim in the domestic postal traffic within 60 days counting from the day that follows the day of the item acceptance, and in the international postal traffic within 6 months counting from the day that follows the day of the item acceptance (in case of loss, overdue deadline and failure of service execution). If he/she cannot submit a claim in the prescribed deadline, he/she loses the right to remuneration.

Customer may file a claim in the following situations:

  • non-delivery or exceeding the time limit for the transfer and delivery of items, within six months, counting from the day following the day of reception;
  • for damaging or reducing the content of registered items, immediately upon delivery or latest on the following working day from the day of reception;
  • failure to perform the service or its partial performance, as well as overcharging postage, within 6 months, counting from the day following the day when the service was requested.

When the claim refers to registered items, the sender or an authorised person shall initiate the inquiry procedure in any post office. Based on the insight into the confirmation of receipt, which the sender is obliged to submit for review, and the information he provides orally to the employee, the post office employee applicatively fills in the “Inquiry” form. The employee then prints out the form and submits it to the customer for review, so as to determine the accuracy of inserted data, after which the customer signs the form thus agreeing with the inserted data. For registered items it is not possible to initiate an inquiry procedure.

Post is obliged to come to a decision about the adequacy of the claim in domestic postal traffic within 30 (thirty) days from the day of its initiation.

A priority letter is a non-registered letter in the domestic postal traffic which is dispatched by the fastest route to the destination and it is delivered regularly.

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