Effective January 26, 2014, the Postal Service™ will revise Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, International Mail Manual (IMM®) to reflect changes to the Individual Country Listings (ICLs) for Belarus, Laos, and Venezuela.
The following ICL changes are a result of formal requests made through the Universal Postal Union (UPU) via International Bureau Circulars (IBC):
n Belarus: As indicated in UPU IBC 173, dated September 30, 2013, Belarus modified its list of restrictions by requiring an accompanying pro forma invoice for goods ordered online.
n Laos: As indicated in UPU IBC 181, dated October 7, 2013, Laos updated its list of prohibited items to include cameras, laptop computers, lithium batteries, and mobile telephones.
In addition, we are updating the Venezuela ICL by moving the “Observation” for First-Class Mail International® service and First-Class Package International Service™ for dutiable items into the “Restrictions” section, and by incorporating a “Note” currently under Priority Mail Express International™ into the “Restrictions” section.
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, International Mail Manual (IMM)
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Individual Country Listings
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Belarus
Country Conditions for Mailing
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Restrictions
[Insert the following item in alphabetical order to read as follows:]
Goods ordered online must be accompanied by a pro forma invoice (an invoice that includes a description of the enclosed goods and their value).
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Laos
Country Conditions for Mailing
Prohibitions
[Insert the following items in alphabetical order to read as follows:]
Cameras.
Laptop computers.
Lithium batteries, including any item containing lithium batteries.
Mobile telephones.
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Venezuela
Country Conditions for Mailing
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Restrictions
[Insert the following item in alphabetical order to read as follows:]
Priority Mail Express International, First-Class Mail International, and First-Class Package International Service items may not contain dutiable articles (merchandise).
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Observations
[Delete item 1 in its entirety (the information that had been in item 1 has been moved under “Restrictions”), and redesignate items 2 through 4 as 1 through 3.]
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Priority Mail Express International (220) Price Group 9
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[Revise “Notes” in its entirety to read as follows (revising the first note to read as follows, and deleting the second note because it is already noted in “Prohibitions”):]
Note:
As noted under “Restrictions,” merchandise and all articles subject to customs duty are prohibited in Priority Mail Express International shipments.
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We will incorporate this revision into the next update of the online IMM, which is available via Postal Explorer® at http://pe.usps.com.
— Product Classification,
Pricing, 11-14-13
