The Distribution Section is responsible for the distribution of United Nations documents and publications in accordance with the guidelines issued by the United Nations Publication Board.

The documents are distributed both in hard copies as well as on-line, using modern facilities provided at four distribution counters. The Official Documents System (ODS), which is used for electronic storage of all United Nations documents in six languages, is the strategic tool for consulting and retrieving documents on-line.

The Section is composed of two specialized units and a mail pre-sorting service:

Conference Documents Servicing Unit

This Unit is responsible for online documents access and hard copy distribution services to the conferences/ meetings, delegates. These services are provided at counters located at the Palais des Nations, Door 40, office C.129 and C.337, and at the Palais Wilson. The Unit also provides on-line distribution services to the language staff at PN.E4101.

Documents Distribution Unit

This Unit is responsible for documents distribution to Permanent Missions to the United Nations Office at Geneva and official mailing lists. The timely distribution of pre-session documents to governments, NGOs and other delegates/participants of meetings, is an important service provided by the Unit.

Mail Pre-sorting Service

Pre-sorting of outgoing official mail, according to weight and volume with an electronic tracking system is provided by this Service. It is a self-financing operation annually handling more than 1.5 million pieces of mail generated by different departments. The service provider offers a preferential tariff for pre-sorting of mail with substantial savings to the departments.