Postal services, including the UK’s Royal Mail and Germany’s DHL said they would suspend deliveries until they had proper systems in place to deal with the new rules, according to the BBC.
From 29 August the US is ending its de minimis exemption on commercial shipments under $800 worldwide. Gifts worth less than $100 will remain duty-free, but the changes mean all other packages will face the same tariff rate as other goods from their country of origin.
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Royal Mail is said to be withdrawing its current US export services for businesses, but hopes to have a new system up and running within a few days to comply with the new rules before they start.
The BBC quoted Royal Mail as saying: “We have been working hard with US authorities and international partners to adapt our services to meet the new US de minimis requirements so UK consumers and businesses can continue to use our services when they come into effect.”
While, Deutsche Post and DHL Parcel Germany is said to be temporarily suspending parcel delivery for business customers to the US due to key questions remaining “unresolved” about how duties would be paid, according to the news publication.
It quoted DHL as stating it was “closely monitoring the further developments” and remained in contact with US authorities, and said shipping via its DHL Express services “remains possible”.
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By GlobalDataIt added: “The company’s goal is to resume postal goods shipping to the US as quickly as possible.”
The news outlet also listed the Nordic countries’ PostNord as suspending services and online marketplace Etsy as suspending shipping label purchases from 25 August for Australia Post, Canada Post, Royal Mail and Evri for US-bound packages in order to adjust couriers’ services.
Once de minimis exemption ends goods transported via an international postal system will be subject to duties determined by one of two methods: Ad valorem duty and Specific duty.
Ad valorem duty will be equivalent to the effective tariff rate under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) relevant to the product’s country of origin and will be levied on the value of each package.
The specific duty will vary between $80 to $200 per item, based on the IEEPA tariff rate that applies to the country where the product originated.
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