Effective August 28, 2016, retail service counters will begin an initial step in phasing out the hard copy versions of customs declaration PS Forms 2976, Customs Declaration, 2976-A, Customs Declaration and Dispatch Note, and 2976-B, Priority Mail Express International Shipping Label and Customs Form, and replacing them with the new PS Form 2976-R, USPS Customs Declaration and Dispatch Note.
The new PS Form 2976-R will initially be used with shipments to international destinations. However, shipments to Army Post Offices, Fleet Post Offices, Diplomatic Post Offices, and U.S. Possessions, Territories, and Freely Associated States will continue to use PS Forms 2976, 2976-A, and 2976-B, as appropriate, when a customs declaration form is required.
PS Form 2976-R is a multiply, non-barcoded worksheet that customers will complete and sign, and that retail personnel will then use to prepare the appropriate postal customs documentation for each item. Retail units will begin this transition by including PS Form 2976-R in lobby displays and advising customers of the changeover to the new form for international mail transactions. PS Form 2976-R should reduce customers’ confusion about which customs forms to use for their shipments. The non-barcoded format encourages customers to hand over each package with the handwritten form to an employee at a Post Office™ retail service counter and enables customs data collection using Customs Border Protection Manifest in Retail Systems Software (RSS) offices and Customs Form Online in manual offices. Once the data is entered into the relevant system, the employee will print out the correct customs form and postage, apply them to the customer’s package, and present the package to the customer for signature on the electronic customs form.
Customers must present any package bearing a handwritten form to an employee at a Post Office retail service counter. Packages improperly inducted into the mailstream with a PS Form 2976-R or other handwritten form may not be eligible for tracking and may be delayed in processing or returned to sender. In addition, if a package is inducted improperly, the Postal Service™ may not be able to collect the customs declaration information that is needed to detect and prevent potential violations of federal export laws.
Customers who have a supply of hard copy PS Forms 2976, 2976-A, or 2976-B and present one of those completed forms to a retail associate will be allowed to use that form in lieu of the new PS Form 2976-R during a short transition period.
Note: An automatic distribution of the new PS Form 2976-R was sent to all RSS offices. Administrative Post Offices distributed the new form to Remotely Managed Post Offices.
— Global Trade Compliance,
Global Business, 8-4-16
