Postal department temporarily halts US services amid lack of clarity about Washington’s custom rules

India’s Department of Posts said on Saturday that it will temporarily suspend postal services to the United States amid lack of clarity about the new customs rules announced by Washington.

The booking of all types of postal articles destined for the US will be temporarily suspended from Monday, except for letters or documents and gifts up to the value of $100, the Ministry of Communications said in a statement.

The scope of impact of the temporary suspension was not immediately clear.

This came after the Donald Trump administration on July 30 withdrew the duty-free exemption for goods valued up to $800. The order is to take effect on August 29.

As a result, a custom duty will be levied on all postal items entering the US, regardless of their value. Only gifts up to $100 in value will be exempted from the levies.

The Indian postal department said on Saturday that while the US Customs and Border Protection agency issued guidelines on August 15, several critical processes relating to the designation of “qualified parties” and mechanisms for the collection of the levies and remittance were undefined.

As a result, transport carriers delivering shipments to the US had expressed their inability to accept postal consignments after August 25, citing lack of operational and technical readiness, the department...

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