Effective May 5, 2014, the Postal Service™ will revise Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, International Mail Manual (IMM®) in parts 713, 921, 922, 931, 942, and 943 to refer to the International Research Group (which was formerly the International Inquiry Center) and to PS Form 2855, International Claim for Indemnity, rather than to PS Form 1000, Domestic Claim (which was formerly titled Domestic or International Claim).
The name change to the International Research Group (IRG) reflects that the Postal Service has transferred these functions from Denver, CO, to the existing Customer Care Center in Los Angeles, CA.
PS Form 2855 reflects the separation of processes for filing indemnity and insurance claims for domestic services and for international services.
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, International Mail Manual (IMM)
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7 Treatment of Inbound Mail
710 U.S. Customs Information
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713 Treatment of Dutiable Mail at Delivery Office
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713.6 Refund of Customs Duty
713.61 Action by Postmaster
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713.612 Addressee’s Request for Refund
[Revise the first sentence to read as follows:]
If the addressee wishes to request a refund of duty from the Customs Service and intends to file an indemnity claim with the Postal Service, he or she must present the contents, container, and complete wrapping to the Postmaster for the inspection in conjunction with the preparation of PS Form 2855, International Claim for Indemnity.***
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9 Inquiries, Indemnities, and Refunds
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920 Inquiries and Claims
921 Inquiries
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921.3 How to Initiate
[Revise the first sentence to read as follows:]
To initiate an inquiry, customers must call 800-222-1811 within the time limits listed in Exhibit 921.2.***
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921.4 Inquiry Process
[Revise the section to read as follows:]
After the Postal Service customer provides the agent with the relevant mailing information, the International Research Group will correspond with the appropriate foreign post and advise the customer of the results of the inquiry. For inquiries on registered items and insured and ordinary parcels, customers must allow foreign posts approximately 60 days to research and respond to the International Research Group. When there is a determination that an item has been lost, the International Research Group will mail a claim packet to the customer. The packet will include a letter of instruction on how to complete and submit the claim.
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922 Claims
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922.3 Claims Process
[Revise 922.3 to read as follows:]
922.31 Determination of Claim
When there is a determination that an item was lost or has damaged or missing contents, the customer will receive PS Form 2855, International Claim for Indemnity.
[Renumber the previously numbered 922.31 and 922.32 to be 922.32 and 922.33, respectively, and revise the newly renumbered 922.32 to read as follows:]
922.32 Evidence of Indemnity Coverage
Indemnity claims for GXG, Priority Mail Express International, Registered Mail, and insured and ordinary parcels must be supported as follows:
a. If mailed in the United States:
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[Revise item 2 to read as follows:]
(2) For Priority Mail Express International items, PS Form 2861, Priority Mail Express International Service Inquiry, received from the International Research Group.
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922.4 Processing Claims for Damaged or Missing Contents
[Revise 922.4 to read as follows:]
922.41 Customer
The customer must:
a. Present the damaged article, mailing container, wrapping, packaging, and any other contents received to any Post Office for inspection.
b. Complete all fields on PS Form 2855.
[Renumber the previously numbered 922.41 to be 922.42, and revise item a and the first part of item d (preceding the mailing address) to read as follows:]
922.42 Postal Service
Postal Service personnel must:
a. Verify that all applicable fields on PS Form 2855 are complete.
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d. Send PS Form 2855 and related documents, including the customs label and the wrapper, if appropriate, to:***
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930 Indemnity Payments
931 Adjudication and Approval
931.1 When to Be Instituted
[Revise the section to read as follows:]
Claims for indemnity are initiated upon receipt of a completed PS Form 2855 with appropriate documentation by International Claims, Accounting Services, PO Box 80146, St. Louis, MO 63180-0146.
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940 Postage Refunds
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942 Postage Refunds for Priority Mail Express International Items
942.1 Who May File
File requests for refunds as follows:
[Revise items a and b to read as follows:]
a. U.S. senders of Priority Mail Express International items must complete the inquiry process (see 922) before filing for a postage refund. The customer must initiate an inquiry within 90 days of the date of mailing by calling 800-222-1811.
b. U.S. senders who used Priority Mail Express International With Guarantee service that did not meet the guaranteed delivery date must initiate a request for postage refund no later than 30 days from the date of mailing by calling 800-222-1811.
942.2 Conditions
942.21 Priority Mail Express International Refunds
The Postal Service will refund postage of Priority Mail Express International items only when:
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[Revise item c to read as follows:]
c. The Postmaster has received verification from the Product Tracking System (PTS) or the International Research Group that loss, damage, or missing contents has occurred.
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942.22 Priority Mail Express International With Guarantee Refunds
The Postal Service will refund postage of Priority Mail Express International With Guarantee service items only when:
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[Revise item b to read as follows:]
b. The International Research Group received confirmation from the foreign postal administration that the item did not meet the specified delivery standard.
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943 Processing Refund Applications
943.1 Items Originating in the United States
Requests for refunds for ordinary letters and for Registered Mail, Priority Mail International, Priority Mail Express International, and Priority Mail Express International With Guarantee service originating in the United States are handled as follows:
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[Revise item b to read as follows:]
b. If there is reason to believe a registered, insured, or ordinary parcel originating in the United States was returned in error, or if the parcel was returned with no annotation showing reason for return, call 800-222-1811 to initiate an inquiry.
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943.2 Items Originating in a Country Other Than the United States
[Revise the section to read as follows:]
When there is reason to believe the other country is at fault, or when the request relates to mail originating in another country, call 800-222-1811 to initiate an inquiry.
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When effective, we will incorporate these revisions into the online IMM, which is available via Postal Explorer® at http://pe.usps.com.
— Product Classification,
Pricing, 4-3-14
