[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 118 (Tuesday, June 18, 2024)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 51446-51448]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-13264]
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POSTAL SERVICE
39 CFR Part 20
Known Mailer and Exceptions
AGENCY: Postal ServiceTM.
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: The Postal Service is revising the Mailing Standards of the
United States Postal Service, International Mail Manual (IMM[supreg])
to remove the ``known mailer'' definition and exceptions for customs
declarations.
DATES: Effective September 29, 2024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Vlad Spanu at (202) 268-4180 or Kathy
Frigo at (202) 268-4178.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On May 12, 2023, the Postal Service
published a notice of proposal (88 FR 30689) to remove IMM section
123.62 regarding known mailers and other related information in the IMM
associated with known mailers to align postal regulations with current
customs policy. In response to the proposed rule, the Postal Service
received formal comments from two commenters as follows:
Comment: One commenter responded on behalf of the industry for
multiple mailing services, noting that this industry represents the
vast majority of the Postal Service's outbound commercial volume and
revenue. The commenter indicated it would be challenging for this
industry, especially for nonprofit and publication mailers, to remove
the ``known mailer'' definition and exceptions for customs
declarations, in that the change would end the current allowances
whereby a good of nominal value (less than $1.00) can accompany a
document mailed as a letter or flat without a customs form.
Response: Under the Acts of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), small
packets containing goods must bear customs declarations, regardless of
the minimal value of the goods. All goods require disclosure of details
using the Customs Forms and Advance Electronic Data (AED) also known as
Electronic Advance Data (EAD) outside of the United States, and as
these items are traveling via international means, they must follow
international rules for content and disclosure of contents.
Comment: The commenter further indicated that it would eliminate
the current exception that also allows a document that exceeds the
dimensions of a flat to be mailed as a packet without a customs
declaration if it is poly-wrapped, noting that the exceptions were
created a decade ago.
[[Page 51447]]
Response: Similar to the response above, under the Acts of the UPU,
small packets containing goods must bear customs declarations,
regardless of the minimal value of the goods. With respect to documents
that are sent as bulky letters, the Postal Service does not have
operational systems in place to separate such pieces from small packets
containing goods. Consequently, a customs declaration is required for
letter-post pieces that are entered as bulky letters i.e., that are
items containing documents and are not eligible as letter-post letters
or flats.
Comment: The commenter also indicated that, in 2017, similar
comments of support to retain the known mailer exceptions were provided
in response to a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on International Mailing
Service, citing that those comments are essentially unchanged, and are
even more resonant today given the sizeable decline in the Postal
Service's outbound volumes and revenue over the past five years. The
commenter further noted that the Postal Service should not be adding
any obstacles that make it harder for mailers to do business with it,
especially given the highly competitive outbound market in which the
Postal Service operates.
Response: The reduction of mail volumes and revenue, or other
business concerns, while significant to the Postal Service, do not
excuse the Postal Service and mailers from following international
requirements for customs declarations and AED.
Comment: The commenter indicated that requiring a customs
declaration form and accompanying electronic data for goods of a
nominal value will be a costly adjustment to make for many current
users, including among nonprofit organizations with which such items
are most popular, in that it would require significant adjustments to
their processes and increase their costs to accommodate the customs
declaration form and data, most likely causing clients to consider the
cost-effectiveness of sending future mailings, curtailing international
fundraising mail. The commenter further indicated that adding the
burden of the customs declaration form would make advertising mail with
a giveaway cost-prohibitive for nonprofits.
Response: The cost effectiveness of this change does not dictate
whether customs declarations are required by international law. This is
not a change made with intent to shift burden or cost to the mailing or
nonprofit industry; it is solely for consistency with mandatory
international regulations.
Comment: Another notable challenge provided by the commenter is the
proposed requirement that documents mailed as a packet due to size
restrictions, such as publications, include a customs declaration form
and associated electronic data. Any additional obstacles for publishers
are likely to have an impact on outbound volumes.
Response: Similar to the response above, the impacts should be
limited to an additional form placed on the package and associated AED
transmission, and should not impact mail preparation or packaging
unless the size of the item does not allow for a label that is 4 inches
in length by 6 inches in height--in which case the package size may
need to change or a smaller form may need to be designed and passed by
the approving officials at the Postal Service for custom designed
customs forms.
Comment: The commenter added that another problem with this
proposed change is that confusion remains about whether publications
and magazines sent as documents are ``goods'' that require a customs
form. Some publications are free circulation, so customers do not pay
for them and thus they have no monetary value to the customer,
therefore presumably fitting the category of documents for which no
customs declaration form is required. The commenter also contended that
the importing country sets its own regulations determining whether
publications are considered goods or documents and that it is not
consistent across the board, with some countries treating publications
as documents and others as goods. The commenter questioned whether the
Postal Service would require a customs declaration form for all
publications, even if the destination country considers them to be
documents.
Response: In accordance with the UPU Convention and its
Regulations, items containing goods require customs declarations.
Documents generally consist of any written, drawn, printed, or digital
information, excluding objects of merchandise, whose physical
specifications lie within certain limits; goods generally consist of
any tangible and movable objects other than money, including objects of
merchandise, which do not fall under the definition of documents.
Current IMM section 123.63 (here being renumbered as section 123.62)
provides guidance on what items are generally considered documents and
what items are generally considered merchandise. Customs declaration
forms are required for magazines (periodicals) as merchandise.
Comment: The commenter also indicated that eliminating the known
mailer exceptions adds another layer of complexity to the export
compliance process, especially for shared partners that have worked
closely with the Postal Service to meet the necessary export compliance
requirements to ensure safety, security, and accountability in the
international mailstream. The commenter further stated that these
hurdles seem to tip the scale in favor of the Postal Service's
competitors and that elimination of the known mailer exceptions adds
one more weight to the scale.
Response: The Postal Service cannot choose whether or not items
with goods require customs declarations as a matter of international
law, regardless of whether competitors insist on customs forms for
private shipments. Customs forms are typically required for goods
shipped as private cargo.
Comment: The other commenter requested that the subsections
containing ``official mail'' exceptions for customs declarations remain
and not be amended. The commenter indicated that general descriptions
are utilized to deter rifling and theft and that removing the known
mailer definition would compromise classified and secret or sensitive
materials and equipment, hinder investigations, and create stagnancy
for the nation's trusted workforce, resulting in adverse impacts to
government agencies and ultimately prevent the mailing of classified
materials.
Response: Under binding international law, there is no general
exception for customs declarations for ``official mail.'' At the same
time, the Postal Service considers the security of all mail for which
it is responsible to be of paramount importance.
The Postal Service is removing IMM section 123.62 in its entirety
and revising associated IMM section 123.61a, Exhibit 123.61, and
section 272.4 to remove known mailer references.
We believe these revisions are necessary to align postal policy
with current customs and international mail regulations applicable to
the United States and other countries. The Postal Service adopts the
described changes to Mailing Standards of the United States Postal
Service, International Mail Manual (IMM), incorporated by reference in
the Code of Federal Regulations. We will publish an appropriate
amendment to 39 CFR part 20 to reflect these changes.
In a separate rule, the Postal Service will also revise associated
revisions to the DMM.
[[Page 51448]]
List of Subjects in 39 CFR Part 20
Administrative practice and procedure, Postal Service.
Accordingly, 39 CFR part 20 is amended as follows:
PART 20--[AMENDED]
0
1. The authority citation for 39 CFR part 20 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 5 U.S.C. 552(a); 13 U.S.C. 301-307; 18 U.S.C. 1692-
1737; 39 U.S.C. 101, 401, 403, 404, 407, 414, 416, 3001-3011, 3201-
3219, 3403-3406, 3621, 3622, 3626, 3632, 3633, and 5001.
0
2. Revise the Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service,
International Mail Manual (IMM) as follows:
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, International
Mail Manual (IMM)
* * * * *
1 International Mail Services
* * * * *
120 Preparation for Mailing
* * * * *
123 Customs Forms and Online Shipping Labels
* * * * *
123.6 Required Usage
123.61 Conditions
* * * * *
[Revise item a. to read as follows:]
a. Mailers may use the hard copy PS Form 2976-R and present it at a
USPS retail service counter, or use an electronic PS Form 2976, PS Form
2976-A, or PS Form 2976-B as described in Exhibit 123.61.
* * * * *
Exhibit 123.61
Customs Declaration Form Usage by Mail Category
* * * * *
[In the section ``First-Class Package International Service
Packages (Small Packets), as well as IPA Packages (Small Packets) and
ISAL Packages (Small Packets),'' remove the second row (beginning with
``All package-size items. . .'') in its entirety; also in Exhibit
123.61, revise all references of 123.63 to 123.62.]
* * * * *
[Remove section 123.62, ``Known Mailers,'' in its entirety,
renumbering current sections 123.63 and 123.64 to be 123.62 and 123.63,
respectively.]
* * * * *
2 Conditions for Mailing
* * * * *
270 Free Matter for the Blind
* * * * *
272 Eligibility
* * * * *
272.4 Customs Form Required
[Revise the text to read as follows (removing the second
sentence):]
When required (see Exhibit 123.61), the mailer must affix a fully
completed electronically generated PS Form 2976 or 2976-A to each item.
Colleen Hibbert-Kapler,
Attorney, Ethics and Legal Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2024-13264 Filed 6-17-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P