IMM Revision: Sealing and Packaging First-Class Mail International, International Priority Airmail, and International Surface Air Lift Mail

Effective October 5, 2009, the Postal Service™ is revis­ing Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, International Mail Manual (IMM®) sections 244.3, 292.43, and 293.43 to clarify the standards for sealing and packag­ing First-Class Mail International™, International Priority Airmail™ (IPA®), and International Surface Air Lift® (ISAL®) mail.

Consistent with the Universal Postal Union (UPU) Letter Post Convention, and to prevent the potential loss of con­tents of unsealed First-Class Mail International mailpieces, we are revising IMM 244.3 to stipulate that if a mailpiece is sent unsealed, then the mailpiece must be closed by some other means to prevent the contents from falling out or being damaged during postal handling and transport. In addition, we have revised IMM 292.43 and 293.43 similarly to clarify the sealing and packaging requirements for IPA and ISAL mail.

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.