[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