Effective July 28, 2013, the Postal Service™ will revise Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, International Mail Manual (IMM®) sections 213.5, 292.452, 293.452, the Index of Countries and Localities, the Country Price Groups and Weight Limits, and the Individual Country Listings to eliminate the Netherlands Antilles and to add the independent countries of Curacao and Sint Maarten (previously noted as “Saint Maarten”).
In 2011, the Universal Postal Union (UPU) notified member countries via International Bureau Circulars that the Netherlands Antilles ceased to exist as a separate entity. Curacao and Sint Maarten are now independent countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, while Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius (previously noted as “Saint Eustatius”) are now known collectively as the Dutch Caribbean. Because the designated operator for Curacao also provides postal services to islands of the Dutch Caribbean, information concerning those destinations will be included in the relevant listing for Curacao.
Consequently, from the IMM we will remove references to the Netherlands Antilles and will add references to Curacao and Sint Maarten in the appropriate sections. However, we will retain one reference to the Netherlands Antilles in the Index of Countries and Localities, but just for a reasonable period of time so that customers can adjust to these governmental changes. Then we will remove the index reference to the Netherlands Antilles.
All mailing services and standards that currently apply for the Netherland Antilles will apply to Curacao and Sint Maarten.
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, International Mail Manual (IMM)
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2 Conditions for Mailing
210 Global Express Guaranteed
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213 Prices and Postage Payment Methods
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213.5 Destinating Countries and Price Groups
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Exhibit 213.5 Destinating Countries and Price Groups
[Delete the listing for the Netherlands Antilles in its entirety, and add listings in alphabetical order for Curacao and Sint Maarten to read as follows:]
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290 Commercial Services
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292 International Priority Airmail (IPA) Service
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292.4 Mail Preparation
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292.45 Sortation
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292.452 Presorted Mail — Direct Country Bundle Label
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Exhibit 292.452 IPA Country Price Groups and Foreign Office of Exchange Codes
[Delete the listing for the Netherlands Antilles in its entirety (including footnotes 4 and 5 with it), revise the footnote for New Zealand from 6 to 4, and add listings in alphabetical order for Curacao and Sint Maarten to read as follows:].
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4 For all destinations to New Zealand other than Cook Islands. For Cook Islands, see the entry for Cook Islands in this exhibit.
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293 International Surface Air Lift (ISAL) Service
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293.4 Mail Preparation
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293.45 Sortation
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293.452 Presorted Mail — Direct Country Bundle Label
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Exhibit 293.452 ISAL Country Price groups and Foreign Office of Exchange Codes
[Delete the listing for the Netherlands Antilles in its entirety (including footnotes 3 and 4 with it) and add listings in alphabetical order for Curacao and Sint Maarten to read as follows:].
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Index of Countries and Localities
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[Revise the entry for Bonaire to read as follows:]
Bonaire (Curacao)
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[Revise the entry for Curacao to read as follows:]
Curacao (includes Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius)
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[Delete the entry for Netherlands Antilles and add in alphabetical order two entries to read as follows:]
Netherlands Antilles (Curacao)
Netherlands Antilles (Sint Maarten)
[Delete the entry for Netherlands West Indies in its entirety.]
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[Revise the entry for Saba to read as follows:]
Saba (Curacao)
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[Delete the entry for Saint Eustatius in its entirety (to be replaced by Sint Eustatius).]
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[Delete the entry for Saint Maarten (Dutch) in its entirety (to be replaced by Sint Maarten).]
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[Add entries in alphabetical order to read as follows:]
Sint Eustatius (Curacao)
Sint Maarten (Dutch)
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Country Price Groups and Weight Limits
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[Delete the listing for the Netherlands Antilles in its entirety, and add listings in alphabetical order for Curacao and Sint Maarten to read as follows:].
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Individual Country Listings
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[Insert a new ICL entry for Curacao by copying the current ICL text for Netherlands Antilles, but with the following revisions:]
Curacao (Includes Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius)
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[Revise the heading for Express Mail International to read as follows:]
Priority Mail Express International (220) Price Group 9
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Customs Forms Required (123)
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Note:
[Change the last statement in the “Note” to read as follows:]
***and other valuable articles are prohibited in Priority Mail Express International shipments to Curacao.
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[Revise “Country Code” to read as follows:]
Country Code: CW
[Revise “Areas Served” to read as follows:]
Areas Served: Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius
[Delete the “Note” (it referred to the ICL for the old Netherlands Antilles, not the new Curacao).]
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[Remove the ICL for Netherlands Antilles in its entirety.]
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[Insert a new ICL entry for Sint Maarten by copying the current ICL text for Netherlands Antilles, but with the following revisions:]
Sint Maarten
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Priority Mail Express International (220) Price Group 9
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Customs Forms Required (123)
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Note:
[Change the last statement in the “Note” to read as follows:]
***and other valuable articles are prohibited in Priority Mail Express International shipments to Sint Maarten.
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[Revise “Country Code” to read as follows:]
Country Code: SX
[Revise “Areas Served” to read as follows:]
Areas Served: Dutch side of Sint Maarten
[Delete the “Note” (it referred to the ICL for the old Netherlands Antilles, not the new Sint Maarten).]
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We will incorporate these revisions into the next monthly update of the online IMM, which is available via Postal Explorer® at http://pe.usps.com.
— Product Classification,
Pricing, 6-13-13
