Founded in March 1970, SO.D.O.P. Limited Liability Company (Company of Diffusion of Philatelic Items) is the single actor of the diffusion of CEF products, in which it received exclusiveness as for the commercial exploitation. SODOP coordinates the various operations relating to the creation of the artistic philatelic first days items:

Design : SO.D.O.P. works in close relationship to the National Service of the Stamp Posts, with illustrators of reputation who are generally the creators of the stamps, with a writer who is charged to work out the texts of the “feuillets”.

Impression is entrusted to two specialized printers.

Stamps sticking and cancellation are respectively carried out by a professional team and the Office of Philatelic Cancellations, only ONE postal service in France.
Diffusion is ensured by a tested national network.

The SO.D.O.P. presents today a broad line of goods which is sold in France, Europe and in the rest of the world, via its six national distributors.

Introducing First Day items

These are base documents, on which a post stamp is fixed and postmarked on the first day of issue.

The base document usually is made out of paper of various quality and formats. It can be plain, illustrated or include some text in relation with the stamp. It can be a sheet of paper, a postcard or an envelope.

The stamp is issued by La Poste. Each year, the Minister delegated to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Finance gives the Commission of the Philatelic Programmes (National Service of the Post Stamp -Service National du Timbre Poste) the task to set up a calendar of the post stamp issue dates, choosing from various themes.
The printing of the stamps is made in Périgueux by National Post stamps and Fiduciary Values Printing House - Imprimerie Nationale des Timbres Poste et des Valeurs Fiduciaires (ITVF).

The first-day postmark usually features an illustration relating to the theme, but it can be a simple postmark, which is applied to the stamp for the first day of its release.
The first day franking takes place on the weekend preceding the official issue date allowing the stamp to be sold in post offices, usually in a place relating to the theme. In 50% of the cases this will happen in the capital – Paris boasts the only Postal Service of Philatelic French Cancellations - Bureau d’Oblitérations Philatéliques de France (BOP).