Effective January 2, 2011, the Postal Service™ will revise Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, International Mail Manual (IMM®) section 123.3 to clarify the information that a mailer must provide on a manifest when using a privately printed customs form that doesn’t have a separate Post Office™ copy.
A mailer who uses a privately printed customs form rather than a USPS®-printed PS Form 2976, Customs Declaration CN 22 — Senders Declaration (green label), or PS Form 2976-A, Customs Declaration and Dispatch Note — CP 72, has the option to either include a Post Office copy (as included on the USPS-printed forms) or to provide the required information on a manifest.
Currently, IMM 123.3b indicates that a mailer who uses a privately printed customs form without the optional Post Office copy must provide a manifest that includes “the sender’s print authorization number (barcode).” However, the information the Postal Service actually requires on the manifest is not the barcode itself but rather the corresponding human-readable characters that match the barcode printed on the form. The following revision clarifies this requirement.
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, International Mail Manual (IMM)
1 International Mail Services
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120 Preparation for Mailing
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123 Customs Forms and Online Shipping Labels
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123.3 Privately Printed Forms
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[Revise the last paragraph of 123.3 to read as follows:]
Upon receipt of the request, the NCSC will send mailers an application and specifications for preparing PS Form 2976 and/or PS Form 2976-A. The application clearly explains the process necessary for authorization. When authorized by the NCSC, a mailer may omit printing the Post Office copy of PS Form 2976 and/or PS Form 2976-A by submitting an authorized manifest of the items. The manifest must be typewritten, legibly handwritten, or computer-generated, and it must contain the following information:
a. The sender’s name and address (appearing once on the manifest).
b. The edition date of the privately printed form (appearing once on the manifest).
c. The same certification statement that is printed on the Postal Service PS Form 2976 or 2976-A, and the mailer’s signature and date (appearing once on the manifest).
d. For each item, the foreign recipient’s name and delivery address.
e. For each item, the corresponding human-readable characters that match the barcode printed on the form.
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We will incorporate this revision 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, 12-2-10
