The new issue is dedicated to the announcement of ANTVERPIA 2010, the National & European Championship of Philately to be held in Antwerp from April 9th to 12th 2010. The designers are the MVTM team, Myriam Voz and Thierry Martin.

The face value of the ATMs, sized 50 x 25 mm, is printed with red ink on phosphorescent self-adhesive labels, which have luminescent fibres, with a white waxed backing paper.

The Amiel distributor, customized, as usual, for the occasion, had only 4 buttons configured with the 4 basic postage values of ATMs for priority mail, the only values that could be obtained of this design: 2 values for domestic mail (1 and 2 within a circle, for basic letters up to 50 gm., and non-basic mail up to 100 gm.), and basic mail up to 50 g. to Europe and the rest of the world (EUROPA 1 and WORLD 1, respectively). For the first time, all ATMs had no value indicated, but include a symbol instead for the numerical face value, according to the new postal tariff system in Belgium.

Following the successful introduction of the new postal tariff system for domestic mail, in October 2007 (see article >>>), from January 1st 2009 the Belgian Post extended the postal system, to the international mail, using symbols and multiples of the basic postage rate.
The international postage system had already been simplified in February 2008 with the removal of non-priority mail, and from 2009 all the face values of the postage stamps were replaced by multiples. To distinguish national rates (figure inside a circle), the international multiples are represented within a small square with rounded corners, with a background showing the European flag, for stamps to be used on mail to the European Union, and a globe for shipments to the rest the world.

2009. Preserve the Polar Regions and Glaciers - Menen

2 weeks after the Fleurus exhibition, a new philatelic event opened its doors in Belgium. This was Filamen 2009, the Flanders East and West regional competitive exhibition. Filamen was organized by the local philatelic club (Meense Filatelieclub), and was held on March 7th and 8th 2009 at the Koninklijk Atheneum, Menen.

As in Fleurus, 3 new stamp issues were released, in an advance sale, at the Menen exhibition, along with their special postmarks: Belgian women in action, the postage stamp festival, and a nice souvenir-sheet, with two stamps priced for the rest-of-the-world mail rates, devoted to the preservation of the polar regions and glaciers (right picture).

2009. Postal vehicles - the past and present

Organized by the Spoetnik Filatelie philatelic group, the 10th East Flanders Stamp Day (10de Oost-Vlaamse ag van de Postzegel) was held on August 29th and 30th 2009, in the NOVA Centrum, in Gent.

During the exhibition, Belgium’s La Poste set up a temporary post office for the advance sale of 3 new stamp issues, and their corresponding special postmarks: Post in motion, Life is dance – along with a sheetlet of 5 stamps devoted to Maurice Béjart -, and a booklet with 10 self-adhesive stamps dedicated to the world of the circus. The organizing philatelic group also issued a personalized stamp.

	Photos: R. Beeckman

The issue, Post in motion, is a souvenir-sheet entitled 'Postvoertuigen vroeger en nu' (Postal vehicles in the past and present), with 2 sets of 5 stamps depicting 5 vehicles used by the Belgium’s La Poste over the years. They are also available as a collection of 5 miniature postal vehicles.

This stamps series is complemented by a new special ATM issue, which depicts the first stamp of the series (right picture). From 1958 until the late '70s, the former Régie des Postes Belges acquired, and used for its fleet, different versions of Citroën 2CV vehicles, always painted in red and with the La Poste logo on the doors.

The design of the souvenir-sheet and the ATM are by Guillaume Broux and Jean Libert.
The label size is 50 x 25 mm., and they are manufactured using self-adhesive paper with a phosphorescent coating and luminescent fibres.
As with previous issues, La Poste installed an AMIEL SIMA 1351 T distributor near the temporary post office. The machine only issued ATMs with 4 different symbols, corresponding to the main postal rates: 2 values for domestic mail (1 and 2 within a circle, corresponding to standard letters up to 50 gm. and non-standard mail up to 100 gm.), and standard mail, up to 50 g., to Europe and the rest of the world (EUROPA 1 and WORLD 1, respectively). The printing is with red ink.