Acknowledgment of receipt (equivalent terms include avis de réception (UPU term), Aviso de Recibo, advice of receipt, advice of delivery (UK and much of the Commonwealth), return receipt requested/required/wanted/demanded (US), Rückschein (Germany), ricevuta di ritorno (Italy), zwrotne potwierdzenie odbioru (Poland), and many others; the standard abbreviations are AR and AD) is a postal

Postal

Postal may refer to:* Mail, the postal service* The Postal Service, a band* "Going postal", the U.S. slang phrase meaning a killing spree* Going Postal, a 2004 Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett...

 service which returns to the sender of a letter (usually registered; in the case of a parcel, it may be insured) a form or card signed by the recipient. This is evidence that the letter was received, and these forms (or cards) are frequently seen with legal endorsements (exhibit A, for example).

While obscure in some countries (such as Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 and Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

), AR has always been very popular in others (such as India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and its overseas departments and territories, and especially the US). There is a great deal of postal history

Postal history

Postal history is the study of postal systems and how they operate and, or, the study of postage stamps and covers and associated material illustrating historical episodes of postal systems...

 material associated to AR: postmarks, AR forms & cards, AR covers, AR covering envelopes for returning AR forms (in use until the early to middle 1920s), rates, and practices. For (a lot) more information, see the book, AR---avis de réception by David Handelman, published by the Postal History Society of Canada (2002) Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

.

According to op.cit., six postal entities have issued stamps intended to pay the AR fee.

External Links

• http://www.canadapost.ca/offerings/supplementary_services_pers/can/advice-e.asp