Customs

Cooperating with Customs

The e-commerce market moves huge numbers of parcels and small packages across borders, making seamless collaboration between Posts and Customs more necessary than ever. The UPU, through the Customs Group of the Postal Operations Council, works actively with partners in the supply chain to keep mail moving across borders and ensure that these mail items reach their destination safely and on time. 

One example of such cooperation is with the World Customs Organization (WCO): the WCO–UPU Contact Committee was established in 1964 at the Universal Postal Congress in Vienna as a means to collaborate on issues related to the clearance of postal items through customs. This joint committee develops procedures and publications to guide Post–Customs work at the national and international level. The two organizations also engage in joint capacity-building projects, organizing workshops on postal customs issues for developing countries.

All meeting documents relating to this area are available to members (with UPU accounts at the UPU Documentation Centre).

UPU solutions

The Customs Declaration System (CDS), created by the UPU’s Postal Technology Centre, helps streamline customs clearance by allowing participating Posts and Customs to exchange advance data and calculate required duties and taxes.  

For packages sent, UPU regulations require Posts to share information about the sender, contents and value with customs authorities. This information used to be sent with packages by means of a paper form, but CDS now enables Posts to share this information via electronic data interchange (EDI) messaging before the package is sent. This advance information can help Customs decrease its own processing times.

CDS also enables customs authorities to send EDI messages to Posts. For example, Customs can use the platform to notify Posts if an item has been rejected during the screening process. This, in turn, allows Posts to better track packages as they make their way through the supply chain.

Prohibitions (country specific)

According to the UPU's rules and regulations (Article 19 of the UPU Convention), certain items are either prohibited or restricted within the international mail flow. With the cooperation of its member countries, the UPU regularly updates its country-specific list of prohibitions and restrictions, which serves as compendium for Article 19.1.3 of the UPU Convention. (See point IV. below.)

Items not admitted (UPU)

The UPU also provides information about items that are not admitted in all categories of postal items, as well as dangerous goods (Articles 19.2 and 19.3 of the UPU Convention), under "Items not admitted". 

The Prohibitions Search Tool is an online repository available to UPU member countries, supported by the Customs Declaration System (CDS) platform. Users can search and consult national customs information on prohibited and restricted articles in the mail. 

UPU member countries requiring further information on the system should contact: customs(at)upu.int.

The Prohibitions Search Tool, available under the following link, queries the country-specific list of prohibited and restricted articles (see point IV. above).

The UPU Customs Compendium contains country-specific information on customs clearance processes. Accessible only to authorized users (with UPU account credentials).  

Contents:

1. Import processing of customs duties and postal charges
2. Delivery of taxable/dutiable items
3. Other agencies responsible for customs clearance of postal items
4. Questions relating to customs declarations
5. Miscellaneous information

Access the Consult folder to review information available from all countries, organized by section, or by country-specific details.

In the Maintain folder, you can:

• Download "Load_Entries_Customs Compendium_EN" to review or update existing information for your country.
• Download "Template_Customs Compendium_EN" to add new entries if no data is available for your country.