On June 29, 2026, ISITEC International participated in the international webinar, “2026 European Union Customs Reform – Market Impact and Transition Management (Part 2),” organized by the Universal Postal Union (UPU) Consultative Committee. During the webinar, Heddy Segai, Head of Sales & Business Unit Manager, presented, alongside Christophe Cabourg (Sort&Group Solutions), ISITEC’s address validation solution, seamlessly integrated with the UPU’s Customs Declaration System (CDS) platform.
A Strategic Event for the Global Postal Industry
As the European customs reform came into effect on **July 1, 2026**—abolishing the customs duty exemption for low-value consignments and introducing a temporary **€3 fee per customs declaration line**—postal operators worldwide must adapt their processes. The next major milestone is already approaching: from **November 1, 2026**, **Product Identifiers (PIDs)** will become mandatory in customs declarations for low-value shipments entering the European Union.
Opened by Walter Trezek, President of the UPU Consultative Committee, the webinar brought together leading industry experts, including the Director of the UPU Postal Technology Centre, the International Post Corporation (IPC), and several international technology providers specializing in cross-border e-commerce.
In this context, the quality of customs declaration data has become critical. As Heddy Segai emphasized, the real customs bottleneck is not the duty itself—it’s the address.
Address Validation, Directly Integrated into the UPU CDS Platform
As a member of the UPU Consultative Committee, ISITEC International presented an AI-powered address validation solution developed by Sort&Group Solutions and natively integrated into the UPU’s Customs Declaration System (CDS), which is already used by 165 postal operators worldwide.
“The goal of the solution we are presenting today is to enable address validation directly within the UPU CDS platform. It is an AI-powered solution that covers addresses in 240 countries, delivers a 99% validation accuracy rate, and processes up to 200 API requests per second. It is a highly powerful API, certified by the UPU,” explained Heddy Segai. “With all the regulatory changes currently taking place, the cost of every incorrect address is set to increase dramatically.”
Tangible Benefits for Postal Operators
“By enabling this option within your CDS platform, you improve customer satisfaction, shift responsibility to senders, reduce customer service workload, optimize your margins, and gain market share,” Heddy Segai concluded during his presentation.
Another key advantage highlighted during the presentation was the solution’s unique pricing model. “There are no development costs, as the solution is already integrated into the CDS platform. And unlike our competitors, only invalid addresses are billed. If you submit 1,000 addresses and only 50 are invalid, you only pay for those 50 addresses.”
Watch the Presentation
If you would like to watch the full presentation by our experts, the webinar replay is available on the UPU’s YouTube channel:
2026 European Union Customs Reform – Market Impact and Transition Management (Part 2)
Watch Heddy Segai and Christophe Cabourg’s presentation: ISITEC International at the UPU