Deutsche Post DHL is responding to forthcoming changes in UPU rules on shipments of e-commerce goods in international mail with a new ‘international goods post’ product from next January.
Commenting on ‘confusing media reports’ about new UPU regulations, the German postal group said some customers apparently feared that goods can no longer be shipped by mail from January onwards or that large price rises are possible for e-commerce shipments, especially from China. “These fears are unfounded,” it declared.
Deutsche Post explained that the UPU has decided to introduce a differentiation between ‘documents’ and ‘goods’ in international mail shipping from January 1, 2018. However, the new rules “only influence the mutual relationships between postal companies and do not affect customers in any way”, it clarified.
“For 2018, Deutsche Post will take charge of this (differentiation) so that they do not need to fear higher prices or changes in preparing their shipments for international goods shipping,” the company added.
In addition, with effect from 1 January 2018, Deutsche Post will launch a new product category under the name ‘Warenpost International’ (International goods post) for business customers with more than five such mailings per quarter. The prices will be based on those for the existing International Large and Maxi-Letter products, and kilogramme-pricing will be offered for major customers.
These new products will focus on the simple exchange of data required for shipping to countries subject to mandatory customs duties, along with an inexpensive unsigned tracking option as well as transparent and reliable transit times.
In a detailed explanation, Deutsche Post said that the UPU agreed on the new rules at its Istanbul Congress in 2016 in response to forthcoming new customs regulations which will require electronic data pre-registration of all shipments containing goods in future. Postal operators are currently preparing for these changes.
Deutsche Post said the UPU had agreed on the following new changes:
• All shipments containing merchandise will be considered "Small Packets" in the future, regardless of their physical format.
• Merchandise will be defined as all contents that are not used for written communication. This includes books. However, magazines are usually considered as written communication.
• Each "Small Packet" must be identified by a unique international standard barcode so that in future it can be assigned to a dataset that will be transmitted separately.
• The internal prices between postal companies (technically known as terminal dues) will be increased. This will mostly affect lightweight shipments and registered mail.
Initially, these changes from January 1, 2018, will only mean that a “Small Packet” will be defined as a mail shipment containing merchandise. Postal companies will have to treat the shipments accordingly and ensure that they carry a barcode. For the time being, customers of Deutsche Post will not have to worry about this because the postal company will take charge of ensuring this.
Moreover, these customs-related changes only apply to shipments sent to destinations outside the European Union.
With Warenpost International, customers will be able to exchange all relevant data for the customer pre-registration simply with Deutsche Post.
