Effective July 1, 2009, the Postal Service™ is revising Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, International Mail Manual (IMM®) to update the Individual Country Listing for Japan to reflect tariff-related laws enacted by the Japanese government.
As a result of the revised Japanese laws, a sales invoice is now required when mailing to Japan any item whose contents are valued at more than 200,000 Japanese yen. In order to minimize administration of the invoice limit that could result in future IMM revisions, the designated limit in U.S. dollars is $1,600.00.
Items without a properly completed sales invoice affixed or enclosed will prevent processing by Customs and will delay delivery by Japan Post Service.
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, International Mail Manual (IMM)
* * * * *
Individual Country Listings
* * * * *
Japan
Country Conditions for Mailing
* * * * *
Observations
* * * * *
[Add a new observation as follows:]
3. A sales invoice is required for all articles valued at more than U.S. $1,600.00. The invoice must be affixed to the outside of the parcel or may be enclosed with the customs declaration in the plastic envelope of PS Form 2976-E. The sales invoice must not obscure the customs declaration, which must show through the plastic envelope.
* * * * *
We will incorporate these revisions into the next printed version of the IMM and into the monthly update of the online IMM, which is available via Postal Explorer® at http://pe.usps.com.
— Mailing Standards,
Pricing, 6-18-09
