Inter-Governmental Philatelic Corporation

The Inter-Governmental Philatelic Corporation, or IGPC, is a philatelic agency that represents over 70 different countries in the design, production and marketing of postage stamps. It also assists postal administrations with the running of their postal services. IGPC claim to produce nearly half of the different postage stamps issued each year but have been criticised for inappropriate and excessive issues.

IGPC is a private business, not an international organisation. It is run for profit and countries using its services are customers, not members.

The IGPC was founded by businessman Dr. Manfred Lehmann (1922–1997). Lehmann had taken an interest in the development of newly independent countries in Africa and the Caribbean. The IGPCs first country client was the newly independent Ghana (formerly the colony of Gold Coast) who in 1957 appointed them to help with the distribution of their stamps and the administration of their post offices. The following year Togo became a client of IGPC and, later, Caribbean countries too. The fall of communism created more clients for IGPC and by the late 1980s IGPC had over 50 client countries. A key development was obtaining the permission of the Disney company to use their cartoon characters on stamps during the 1979 International Year of the Child. Disney themed stamps have since become an important part of the company's output.

The IGPC is particularly noted for the issue of stamps featuring popular thematic subjects, cartoon characters and individuals from sport and entertainment that have been criticised as having little connection with the culture or history of the issuing countries. The mass issue of stamps featuring images from American pop culture has even been called a form of cultural imperialism.

Examples of inappropriate issues might be those from Tuvalu, a small group of Polynesian islands in the South Pacific and an IGPC client, whose stamps have featured the American artist Norman Rockwell and the Chinese New Year. And in 2008, IGPC clients Gambia, Guyana, and Sierra Leone issued stamps to commemorate the 11 Israeli athletes killed during the hostage taking at the Munich 1972 Olympic Games.

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