Effective November 7, 2022, the Postal Service™ will revise Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®), part 207, to reflect changes to Postal Service verification requirements for authorized audit bureaus.
On July 7, 2022, the Postal Service published a final rule (87 FR 40453-40454) to revise verification requirements for authorized audit bureaus. The Postal Service is enacting new procedures for auditing compliance with circulation standards for Periodicals requester publications, as well as standardizing procedures across Postal Service publications.
The Postal Service is also revising the applicable Customer Support Ruling and Postal Service customer handbooks to reflect this DMM revision.
Although the Postal Service will not publish these revisions in the DMM until November 7, 2022, the standards 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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8.0 Record Keeping Standards for Publishers
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8.1 Basic Standards
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[Revise the text of 8.1.3 to read as follows:]
8.1.3 Retention
The publisher must keep records for each issue of a publication for a minimum of 3 years from its issue date, except for circulation records for general or requester publications for which a USPS-authorized audit bureau verifies USPS circulation. In addition, the publisher must retain records for paid subscribers for a minimum of 12 months following the issue date. A publisher whose records are verified by an authorized audit bureau is not required to keep source records of requests and subscriptions longer than required by the audit bureau, provided that the authorized audit bureau retains records related to such requests and subscriptions for a minimum of 3 years following each issue date.
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8.2 Verification
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[Revise the text of 8.2.2 to read as follows:]
8.2.2 Authorized Verification
USPS employees or an authorized audit bureau may conduct circulation verifications for an application for Periodicals mailing privileges, reentry application, or other required circulation verification of general or requester publications, provided that the Postal Service will have the authority to review audit procedures upon request. In addition, the Postal Service reserves the right to verify each audit bureau’s compliance with Postal Service audit procedures. The Postal Service has the authority to revoke any audit bureau’s authorization to conduct verifications if it finds the audit bureau failed to follow approved audit procedures.
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The Postal Service will incorporate these revisions into the November 7, 2022, edition of the online DMM, which is available via Postal Explorer® at pe.usps.com.
— Product Classification
Product Solutions, 8-25-22
