Effective April 13, 2017, the Postal Service™ is revising Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®), sections 207.4.0 and 207.5.0, to clarify the mailing standards for Periodicals eligibility.
This article does not change the eligibility standards for Periodicals mailing privileges. However, we are revising the aforementioned sections of the DMM to clarify that the mailing standards reflected in DMM 601.9.0, Written, Printed, and Graphic Matter, have no bearing on the determination of applications for Periodicals mailing privileges and continued eligibility. DMM 601.9.0 contains standards applicable to solicitations, lottery matter, advertising matter, sweepstakes, skills contests, and other nonmailable written, printed, and graphic matter, which apply to the general mailability of each issue of a publication.
Details regarding Periodicals mailing privileges are available in DMM 207 and Handbook DM-204, Applying for Periodicals Mailing Privileges, which are available via Postal Explorer® at pe.usps.com.
Although we will not publish this clarification in the DMM until May 1, 2017, these revisions are effective immediately.
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM)
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200 Commercial Mail Letters, Cards, Flats, and Parcels
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207 Periodicals
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4.0 Basic Eligibility Standards
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4.2 General
[Revise the text of 4.2 to read as follows:]
Only newspapers and periodical publications that meet the mailability standards in 601.1.0 through 601.8.0, along with the applicable standards in 4.0 through 15.0 and 29.0, may be authorized for mailing privileges at Periodicals prices.
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5.0 Applying for Periodicals Authorization
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5.3 Decision on Application
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5.3.3 Mailability
[Revise the text of 5.3.3 to read as follows:]
If the PCSC manager authorizes an application for Periodicals mailing privileges, this approval does not represent a USPS determination that a publication is mailable under 601.9.0.
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We will incorporate these revisions into the next update of the online DMM, which is available via Postal Explorer® at pe.usps.com.
— Product Classification, Marketing, 4-13-17
