South Korea Leads Revision of 'International Postal Customs Declaration'... Implemented in 192 Countries

The amendment to the international postal customs declaration form has been finalized after receiving final approval from the Universal Postal Union (UPU) Postal Operations Council (April) and the World Customs Organization (WCO) General Assembly (June).

According to the Korea Customs Service on the 29th, the amendment was officially proposed by the Korea Customs Service at the WCO-UPU Contact Committee last November and brought to the discussion table. The Contact Committee is an annual meeting jointly held by the WCO and UPU for customs and postal member countries to cooperate aiming for smooth and safe clearance of international postal items.

The revised international postal customs declaration form newly includes the categories of "e-commerce goods" and "business-to-business sales goods" instead of the previous "goods for sale."

The international postal customs declaration form is a form completed by the sender of international postal items and is used by customs authorities of each country for postal clearance.

Until now, despite the frequent trade of e-commerce goods via international mail, the existing customs declaration form could not clearly distinguish these, causing difficulties in managing the clearance of the rapidly increasing e-commerce international postal items.

However, once the amendment is implemented, e-commerce goods among international postal items will be clearly distinguished, enabling customs authorities worldwide to improve risk management efficiency and the accuracy of statistical calculations.

The revised content is scheduled to be applied and enforced in 192 countries worldwide starting June 2026.

In particular, the amendment is significant as it is the result of Korea Customs Service leading the revision of the international postal customs declaration form and continuously persuading global customs authorities and postal member countries.

Ko Kwang-hyo, Commissioner of the Korea Customs Service, stated, “As a member of the global hub countries, Korea will continue to lead international standards in customs administration to create a safer and smoother trade environment.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.