Effective July 24, 2025, the Postal Service™ is revising Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, International Mail Manual (IMM®), subchapter 260, to reflect changes to M-bag® service and to note whether M-bag service is available to each Individual Country Listing in the IMM.
During the Universal Postal Union (UPU) Fourth Extraordinary Congress held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (2023) and as discussed in International Bureau Circular (IBC) 24, dated February 10, 2025, M-bags (special bags for printed matter sent to a single foreign addressee at a single address) became an optional supplementary service effective January 1, 2025.
This revision is based on information provided via IBC 181, dated November 18, 2024, and IBC 24, dated February 10, 2025, which contain information related to foreign postal operators’ willingness to continue accepting M-bags. The U.S. Postal Service® is, therefore, updating IMM subchapter 260 and the Individual Country listings to reflect that the following postal operators will no longer accept inbound M-bag service:
Furthermore, IMM subchapter 260 and the Individual Country Listings will be updated to indicate that the following postal operators will resume accepting inbound M-bag service:
n Croatia
n Russia (Russian Federation)
n Thailand
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, International Mail Manual (IMM)
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2 Conditions for Mailing
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260 Direct Sacks of Printed Matter to One Addressee (M-bags)
261 Description
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261.3 Availability
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[Revise Exhibit 261.3 to read as follows:]
Exhibit 261.3
Countries For Which M-Bag Service Is Not Available
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Individual Country Listings
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Airmail M-bags (260)
[For countries that will no longer offer M-bag service — i.e., Australia; Austria; Brunei Darussalam; Djibouti; Estonia; Iceland; Indonesia; Jamaica; Jordan; Laos; Lebanon; Maldives; New Caledonia; Norway; Oman; Romania; Samoa; Saudi Arabia; Switzerland and Syria; — replace the current ICL text to read as follows:]
Airmail M-bags (260)
Not Available
* * * * *
Croatia
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Airmail M-bags (260)
[Revise the text to read as follows:]
Direct Sack to One Addressee Price Group 4
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Russia (Russian Federation)
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Airmail M-bags (260)
[Revise the text to read as follows:]
Direct Sack to One Addressee Price Group 4
* * * * *
* * * * *
[Revise the text to read as follows:]
Direct Sack to One Addressee Price Group 6
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The Postal Service will incorporate these revisions into the next edition of the online IMM, which is available via Postal Explorer® at pe.usps.com.
— Product Classification,
Product Solutions, 7-24-25
