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09.12.2020
From the 1st of January 2021 the contents of postal items for sending to third countries – outside the European Union – will have to be indicated in more detail. This is determined by the new standards of the most important international postal organisation, the Universal Postal Union (UPU), with a view to speeding up the exchange of exhaustive postal item data and customs information between countries. Customers may process their items and fill in the content information both in the traditional way – at a post office and on the self-service website of Latvijas Pasts https://new.manspasts.lv/, which allows them to process items faster and more cost-efficiently.
Already now, when processing postal items for sending abroad, senders indicate in the accompanying documents information about the contents of the item – the goods it contains and the weight of the item. However, according to the new standards of the Universal Postal Union, which are included in the Universal Postal Convention, from the 1st of January next year the contents of an item addressed to third countries – outside the European Union – must be detailed as much as possible. The new procedure concerns the flow of postal item data and the information necessary for the customs between countries, which will allow the country of destination to process items faster and enable a more efficient customs clearance process. At the same time incomplete or even misleading information about the contents of an item may delay the delivery of the item.
Postal items addressed to third countries will require detailing of the goods they contain to the extent possible, specifying the goods being sent, the number of units of a particular product, the weight of each group of the goods, the value and the total weight of the item. When indicating the contents of an item, the customer should avoid generalisations, such as clothing or gifts, instead indicating the exact product: for example, a cotton T-shirt, wool socks, sports footwear, wooden toys, chocolates, etc.
If the customer often sends items from Latvia to third countries, it is more convenient and cost-efficient to process the items not at a post office, but on the self-service website of Latvijas Pasts https://new.manspasts.lv/. Data about the sender and the recipient, if the items are regularly addressed to the same recipients, can be saved in the Manspasts.lv user profile – there is no need to enter them again every time.
The self-service electronic system will automatically offer a form appropriate to process a particular item and request the necessary information. Even if the item contains a lot of goods, the item content field on the self-service website is not limited and makes it easy to list all the goods, which would be more difficult in the small area of the paper form when despatching the item at the post office. It is also more cost-efficient to process items on Manspasts.lv, as the registration and insurance fee for such items will be almost 30% lower, and it is especially advantageous in cases when the customer sends more registered items.
If incorrect details of the item are detected, the customs formalities in the country of destination may be delayed, and the item may be detained and inspected or even confiscated by the customs authorities. It should be noted that incorrect information may also prevent you from receiving relevant compensation in the event of damage to, or loss of, a registered item: for example, if a chocolate bar is listed instead of a mobile phone, the amount to be compensated will be lower.
We remind you that from the 1st of January 2021, with the end of the transition period for the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union, the UK will also be included in the list of third countries and items addressed to that country will be subject to the requirement of the maximum detailed content information.
The new system is expected to improve the movement of goods between countries in regard to postal items by ensuring the flow of electronic data on the contents of cross-border items between postal service providers before the items enter the country of destination.
The Universal Postal Union is the main postal organisation that comprises 192 member countries, develops rules for international postal exchange and makes recommendations for increasing the volume of letters, parcels and financial services, as well as improving the quality of customer service. Latvia was admitted to the Universal Postal Union on the 1st of October 1921 and its membership was restored on the 17th of June 1992.
Examples of item descriptions can be seen here.
About SJSC Latvijas Pasts
Latvijas Pasts ensures the widest availability of postal services throughout Latvia by maintaining more than 600 post offices. The primary function of the company is provision of the universal postal service; Latvijas Pasts also provides commercial transport, express mail, payment, press subscription, retail and philatelic services. Latvijas Pasts is a wholly State-owned company with about 3,200 employees. The quality measurements of Latvijas Pasts domestic mail deliveries are regularly conducted by Kantar TNS, one of the leading market, social and media research agencies in Latvia. In turn, the quality measurements of the cross-border deliveries are provided within the framework of the International Post Corporation through the intermediary of the research companies Kantar TNS, Ipsos and Quotas.
Additional information:
Gundega Vārpa | Head of External Communications
E-mail: pr@pasts.lv; gundega.varpa@pasts.lv
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