Effective November 12, 2015, the Postal Service™ is revising Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, International Mail Manual (IMM®) to reflect a change to the Individual Country Listing (ICL) for Hong Kong.
As a result of a formal request made through the Universal Postal Union (UPU) via International Bureau Circular (IBC) 173, dated October 12, 2015, Hong Kong is adding a prohibition regarding lithium cells and batteries. This prohibition applies to air and surface dispatches, including mail in transit, so mailers are asked not to send shipments that include lithium cells and batteries to or via Hong Kong.
Although this revision will not be published in the IMM until January 17, 2016, these standards are effective immediately.
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, International Mail Manual (IMM)
* * * * *
Individual Country Listings
* * * * *
Hong Kong
Country Conditions for Mailing
Prohibitions
[Add the following entry as the first one in the list:]
Lithium cells and batteries.
* * * * *
We will incorporate this revision into the January 17, 2016, update of the online IMM, which is available via Postal Explorer® at http://pe.usps.com.
— Product Classification,
Pricing, 11-12-15
