The Europa postage stamp is an annual joint issue of stamps with a common design or theme by postal administrations of member countries of the European Communities (1956–1959), the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) ( 1960-1992) , and the PostEurop Association ( 1993- ). Europe is the central theme.
EUROPA stamps underlines cooperation in the posts domain, taking into account promotion of philately. They also build awareness of the common roots, culture and history of Europe and its
common goals. As such, EUROPA stamp issues are among the most collected and most popular stamps in the world.
HISTORY
The first Europa issue was on 15 September 1956. The postal administrations of the founding six members of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) issued stamps with a common design: a tower made up of the letters of the word "EUROPA" and surrounded by construction scaffolding.
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| 15 Sep 1956 |
In 1959, the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) was formed, and from 1960 the initials "CEPT" were displayed on the joint issue stamps. The stamps had a common design from 1956 to 1973, (with the exception of 1957). However, many countries issued a stamp that did not feature the common pattern but just displayed the word "EUROPA".
From 1974, the common design was replaced by stamps with different designs, but with a common theme.
When CEPT decided to focus more on telecommunications in 1993, PostEurop took over the management of the Europa issues. The CEPT logo was replaced by a new logo created by PostEurop, i.e. the word "EUROPA" leaning to the right.
From January 2011, the new EUROPA logo, preceded by a symbolic reminder of the mailbox, applies.
