Personalised Stamps – New FIP Rules : A Contradiction
The new FIP SREV 3.1 was revised
recently to include: “The postage stamp can be personalized on
request from a client (individual, association, company,…), provided
that it is available to the general public.”
Since when is any personalised stamp
available to the general public? Further, in maximaphily workshops
conducted in recent times by the Maximaphily Commission, it has been
stated that, for example, an acceptable example of a personalized stamp
is Mon Timbreamoi (by
the French post office). On contacting them, they advise of the
seemingly obvious – they are not generally available to the public!
They are private only to the person ordering. Indeed the French
marketing of the product even says: “booklet of 4 pages containing your 10 stamps”.
The general public can “create” the design
of the stamp, but the end result is indeed private and not available to
the general public. So what is the purpose of including any
personalised stamps at all? Why were the Rules changed to create more
ambiguity?
