Along with several other nations, the Austro-Hungarian Empire maintained its own post offices in Crete in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The three post offices, in Chania, Heraklion and Rethymno, operated from 1890 until 1914, replacing earlier Austrian Lloyd postal agencies and official Austrian postal agencies which operated in turn in these towns starting in 1837 and 1845 respectively.
These offices used Austrian stamps denominated or surcharged in various currencies (Lombardy–Venetian soldi, Turkish paras and piastres, and French centimes and francs) or, much more rarely, used regular not surcharged Austrian stamps.
Many stamp collectors and catalogues have traditionally referred to just the French currency issues as "Austrian Post Offices in Crete", distinguishing them from the Turkish currency issues which have been referred to as "Austrian post offices in the Ottoman Empire" or as "Austrian Levant".
Ferchenbauer explains[2] that the reason is that it was not officially permitted to admit the competition outside Crete island.