Changes to Royal Mail terms and conditions

Dangerous goods – important changes to what you can and cannot send in the post

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Department for Transport (DfT) and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) have agreed new rules with Royal Mail Group for sending small quantities of specific consumer items through the post to UK addresses.

The updated set of rules will limit the risk posed by those items when sent in the post. The change means that customers will be able to post toiletry and medicinal aerosols, nail varnishes, perfumes and aftershaves, which are currently prohibited, to UK addresses. They also mean customers can post alcohol up to 70 per cent ABV and electronic items sent with or containing lithium batteries within the UK. Customers posting such items will need to comply with volume/battery capacity, quantity, packaging and labelling requirements.

‘Dangerous goods’ are articles or substances which are capable of posing a risk to health, safety, property or the environment. Existing regulations prohibit sending nearly all dangerous goods in the mail. Prohibited items (such as explosives and corrosive liquids) must never be sent in the post.

Royal Mail is a postal operator and does not carry large single consignments or cargo through its network. The new rules are only in relation to the small quantities that Royal Mail handles on behalf of customers. The new rules mean an additional cost for Royal Mail itself as it puts in a range of measures to control low risk items entering the postal network.

UK post

Royal Mail has published a new set of rules that will ensure specified low risk items can be transported safely through the UK postal network. They come into effect for contract and account customers on 14 January 2013. For consumers and non-account customers, they will come into effect on 15 July 2013.

International post

To comply with the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air, Royal Mail will enforce the existing regulations which prohibit dangerous goods from international services. The only dangerous goods Royal Mail will permit in international mail are lithium batteries contained in equipment.

Failure to comply with the legal requirements for the transport of dangerous goods is an offence and you may be prosecuted. Further, if you send dangerous goods and do not comply with the applicable terms and conditions and legal requirements then we may deal with the goods as we see fit including destroying or disposing of the relevant goods or as otherwise specified in the terms and conditions. We will amend our terms and conditions which will affect some common items such as aerosols, perfumes, alcohol, nail varnish and lithium batteries.

It is your responsibility to ensure your post complies with the relevant legal requirements and the terms and conditions.

We are also making other important changes to our terms and conditions to address these legal and policy changes and to improve the efficiency of our services.

All these changes will apply for items posted by contract customers on or after 14 January 2013.

Guns for sporting use - important changes to terms & conditions

We have recently concluded a public consultation on the carriage of firearms in our network. As a result we intend to update our Firearms Policy to more effectively reflect relevant legislation. We will amend our terms and conditions to reflect these changes.

We will amend our definition of ‘Guns for sporting use’ to specifically prohibit firearms listed in Section 5 of the Firearms Act 1968 (such as handguns and revolvers).

We will amend our definition of ‘Ammunition’, to specifically exclude lead pellets and other air gun and airsoft projectiles, so that these items are allowed without restriction.

Failure to comply with the legal requirements for the transport of firearms is an offence and you may be prosecuted. Further, if you send firearms and do not comply with the applicable terms and conditions and legal requirements then Royal Mail may deal with the goods as it sees fit including destroying or disposing of the relevant goods and as otherwise specified in the terms and conditions.
It is the customer’s responsibility to ensure their post complies with the relevant legal requirements and the terms and conditions.

We are also making other important changes to our terms and conditions to address these legal and policy changes and to improve the efficiency of our services.

All these changes will apply for items posted by contract customers on or after 14 January 2013.

The following terms and conditions have been updated to reflect our new policies regarding Dangerous Goods and Guns for Sporting Use:

• Royal Mail General Terms & Conditions PDF
• Royal Mail Specific Terms for Special Delivery Services PDF
• Royal Mail Specific Terms for Royal Mail Tracked and Royal Mail Tracked Next Day PDF
• Royal Mail Tracked and Royal Mail Tracked Next Day User Guide PDF
• Royal Mail Sameday Agreement PDF
• Royal Mail Specific Terms for International Contract Services PDF
• Royal Mail Specific Terms for Packet Services PDF
• Agreement for the provision of Relay Services PDF
• Royal Mail Terms & Conditions for Warehousing Services PDF
• RMG-MOR Agreement PDF

More information

Related Royal Mail products and services
The provisions to allow some previously prohibited items in the UK domestic post, which apply from 14 January 2013, will only be adopted for Royal Mail contract customers using the following products:

1st Class or 2nd Class products paid for via franking or on account (BPL VAT-exempt 1st and 2nd Class Account Mail)
Special Delivery™
Royal Mail Tracked®
Royal Mail Sameday®

For clarity, these provisions will not apply to any other Royal Mail products, which includes the following:

Access services
Royal Mail Advertising Mail®
Business Mail™
Publishing Mail™
Business Reply
Freepost™
Business Mail (STL)
Packetpost™ or Packetsort™
Packetpost™ Returns*

*Note: Except for Lithium batteries contained inside electronic devices – see Royal Mail Specific Terms for Packet Services above for further details and requirements.

Prohibitions and restrictions in the UK and international post

These new controls will apply from 14 January 2013 for all contract customers when posting items to both UK and International destinations:

a) International Post
The following items will remain specifically prohibited from the International post:

All aerosols
Beverages with an alcohol content of 24% ABV or higher
All liquids over 1 litre
Lithium batteries, and items sent with lithium batteries, unless the battery is contained in a device
Nail varnish/nail polish
Perfumes and aftershaves
All other items classified as Dangerous Goods remain prohibited with the exception of:

a) Lithium batteries when contained in a device, which may be sent in the International post, subject to specific conditions.

b) Prescription Medicines not classified as dangerous goods, which may be sent in the International post, subject to specific conditions.

Specific conditions covering lithium batteries contained in a device and prescription medicines not classified as dangerous goods, together with details of volume/battery capacity, quantity, packaging and labelling requirements which apply are detailed in our new guide to Prohibited and Restricted items.

You can request a hardcopy version of this booklet (which will be available from mid November) via your account manager, or by calling our Business Centre on 08457 950 950.

Remember that specific country restrictions may also apply. We cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage to items if they are prohibited in the country you post them to.

It should be noted that for the purposes of the provisions agreed with the CAA, DfT and MCA for consumer products classified as dangerous goods, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are considered to be UK destinations, and so the following provisions for UK post will apply.

b) UK post
The following items will be allowed in the UK post but specific restrictions in terms of volume/battery capacity, quantity, packaging and labelling will apply:

Aerosols for personal grooming or medicinal purposes such as deodorants, body sprays, hair sprays, shaving and hair removal creams and asthma inhalers
Alcoholic beverages with an alcohol content between 24% ABV and 70% ABV
Lithium batteries when sent with, or contained in, a device
Nail varnish/nail polish
Perfumes and aftershaves
Prescription medicines
Wet, non-spillable batteries
Details of volume/battery capacity, quantity, packaging and labelling requirements which apply to all these items are detailed in our new guide to Prohibited and Restricted items.

You can request a hardcopy version of this booklet (available from mid November) via your account manager, or by calling our Business Centre on 08457 950 950.

c) Labelling requirements
All the items listed above, with the exception of alcoholic beverages and wet non-spillable batteries, will require specific labels to be placed on the outer packaging. We will provide copies of both types of labels to contract and account customers free of charge, which will be available to order using Online Mail Supplies (OMS) on www.royalmail.com, or via your account manager, from 5th December 2012.

An ID8000 label will be required for:

• Aerosols for personal grooming or medicinal purposes such as deodorants, body sprays, hair sprays, shaving and hair removal creams and asthma inhalers
• Nail varnish/nail polish
• Perfumes and aftershaves
• Prescription medicines

An example of the ID8000 label is shown below:

Image

Image transcript

ID8000, Consumer commodity Permitted in UK Domestic Mail Only Four checkboxes labelled: Medicines Perfume/Aftershave Nail Varnish Toiletry or medicinal aerosols Exempt from requirements for dangerous goods transport document (shipper's declaration or dangerous goods note) air transport acceptance check and notification to pilot in command (NOTOC). Overpacking by the sender not permitted. Minimum dimension 99mm Maximum dimension 139mm

To apply an ID8000 label:

Print the label to size: 99 x 139mm.
Tick the relevant box (or boxes) according to the contents of the packet.
Apply securely and visibly to the outer packaging.

A Lithium battery handling label will be required when sending lithium batteries with a device. An example of the lithium battery handling label is shown below:

To apply a lithium battery handling label:

Print the label to size: 120 x 110mm or 74 x 105mm (for packages which are too small to bear the larger label).
Write or pre-print the word ‘ion’ and/or ‘metal’ in the space after ‘LITHIUM’ to indicate the type of battery in the packet.
Write or pre-print a contact telephone number for your business in the space provided.
Apply securely and visibly to the outer packaging.

Is anything else changing?
For consistency and clarity we are making some wording changes to ensure that the rules and guidance for sending prohibited and restricted items are clear, such that:

Lighters
New, empty and unused lighters sent in original retail packaging will be allowed but lighters and refills containing flammable liquid or gas (including used cigar and cigarette lighters) remain prohibited.

Human and animal remains (including ashes)
Human and animal remains will continue to be prohibited. For the avoidance of doubt human and animal ashes are prohibited.

New terms and conditions
To reflect the changes to our policies on Prohibited and Restricted items and to ensure that we are continuing to meet our regulatory obligations, we are updating our terms and conditions. Our latest terms and conditions are available to download.

You can request a hardcopy version of these terms and conditions (which will be available from early November) from your account manager, or by calling our Business Centre on 08457 950 950.

What happens now?
You should familiarise yourself with these changes and our updated terms and conditions, in readiness for the 14th January 2013.

Please note: If you do post Prohibited or Restricted items (and do not comply with the relevant restrictions, including those set out above), Royal Mail may deal with the goods as it sees fit including destroying or disposing of the relevant items.

For details of all items currently listed as Prohibited or Restricted items please see www.royalmail.com/prohibitedgoods and www.royalmail.com/restrictedgoods

Sending tickets via Royal Mail Tracked®

You may now send tickets that are personal to the intended recipient via Royal Mail Tracked®. These are tickets that cannot be used by just any person who comes into possession of them. Royal Mail will not be liable for loss or damage to any such tickets. The Royal Mail specific terms for Royal Mail Tracked® and Royal Mail Tracked Next Day® have been updated to reflect this change.

Change takes effect on 30 November 2012.

Returns Packet tracking

We have amended the Royal Mail Specific Terms for Packet Services as we are planning to make more returns packet status information available to you.

We are planning to introduce further packet scanning so that we can provide you with on line access to tracking information and potentially offer additional information regarding the status of your returns items. We will contact you when any new facilities become available.

Change takes effect on 30 November 2012.

New Royal Mail UK Postal Scheme

Certain Royal Mail products, including 1st and 2nd Class, have their terms and conditions detailed in documents called ‘Schemes’. These Schemes are published under the Postal Services Act 2000 (as amended by the Postal Services Act 2011) which means that it is not necessary to hold individual contracts with each customer purchasing these products.

Two of the Schemes (the Royal Mail Scheme for Inland Letters September 2012 and the Royal Mail Scheme for Inland Parcels September 2012) will be updated and merged to form one new Scheme by the end of the year, subject to the outcome of a public consultation.

The updated Scheme will be called ‘The Royal Mail United Kingdom Post Scheme’, and will be easier to read than the existing Inland Schemes. The 1st and 2nd Class terms and conditions won’t change, but because your Royal Mail agreement incorporates the Schemes, we are informing you of this change.

More information: www.royalmail.com/schemes

Holding period for items we cannot deliver

If we are unable to deliver an item and the recipient does not arrange to have it redelivered, we normally hold it at their local delivery office for 18 days before we return it to the sender, where possible.

We have amended our General Terms and Conditions to clarify that if we are required by law to return the item to the sender immediately, the 18 day period will not apply.

Change takes effect on 30 November 2012.

Customer Collections

If you spend at least £15,000 a year on qualifying services, you may be entitled to free daily collections.

Our Terms and Conditions for Customer Collections have been updated to clarify that if you currently pay for your collections, but you spend £15,000 a year on the relevant services, you may apply for free collections from the collection point concerned and a refund of any collection fees that you have paid during the period to which your application relates, up to a maximum of 12 months.

Change takes effect on 30 November 2012.

Contents of items

The reference to the British Codes of Advertising and Sales Promotion in clause 4.7 of the Royal Mail General Terms & Conditions has become out of date. The updated terms refer to the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotions and Direct Marketing (CAP Code). You must make sure that the contents of all items do not break this code.

Reminder of our product procedures

Minimum spend requirements for International Contract products

We want to remind our customers of the minimum spend requirements to use our International Contract products.

Details of these, and the actions we can take if you don’t reach the minimum spend, can be found in the Royal Mail Specific Terms for International Contract Services.

For more information, please see: www.royalmail.com/ics

The correct procedure at Post Office® branches for posting mail bearing Printed Postage Impressions (PPIs)

Please note all mail bearing PPIs such as Business Mail, packet product mail and international product mail handed over to us at Post Office® branches must be accompanied by a fully completed and confirmed sales order (from an Online Business Account), or alternatively an appropriate Posting Cheque. All bags carrying this mail must be sealed and labelled.

For full Terms & Conditions and also details of our procedures for handing mail bearing PPIs over to us at Post Office® branches, please refer to the Details section of: www.royalmail.com/ppi

Correct use of envelopes and sales orders for Business Mail with Advanced option.

We want to remind our customers of the correct procedure for use of envelopes and sales orders for posting Business Mail with Advanced option.

Please do not use envelopes with your Advanced option licence number printed on them for any Royal Mail service other than Business Mail with Advanced option. It is also important to note that all mail sent using Business Mail with Advanced option must be accompanied by a confirmed sales order and not a saved sales order. Using envelopes with your Advanced licence number printed on them for other Royal Mail delivery services or failure to provide a confirmed sales order may result in you being charged for a higher-priced service, as the requirements for using Business Mail with Advanced option will not have been met.

Following these simple guidelines will ensure that use of Business Mail with Advanced option is easy and provides great value. Remember there are no volume restrictions applicable to this product, we accept anything from a single item upwards, but 500 items per mailing are required for the mailing to qualify for a Business Mail with Advanced option mail discount.

For more information, please see: www.royalmailtechnical.com

Delivery to neighbour

We recently tested leaving items with neighbours. It was received very positively. This means customers receive their items sooner and don’t need to arrange a redelivery, or collect the item from a delivery office.

So from late September 2012, subject to regulatory approval, if customers are not at home when we try to deliver to them, we’ll leave their item with one of their neighbours wherever possible, and pop a card through the customer’s door to tell them where they can pick up their item.

If we have Special Delivery™ or international mail that needs to be signed for we’ll still take it back to the local delivery office, so customers can either collect it from us or arrange a redelivery, as normal.

We are letting the whole nation know about this intended change by sending a leaflet to every home over the next two weeks.

We recognise that some customers would rather we didn’t leave items with their neighbours, so they can either call us or go online to opt-out, simply by displaying a sticker (which we will send them free of charge) near their letter box, or somewhere clearly visible to us.

Compensation arrangements remain unchanged for items delivered to a neighbour with terms appropriate to the individual service used.

There is strong evidence to suggest that improving the delivery experience could help to grow the home shopping market overall, by making the delivery experience more flexible and more convenient for customers. The results from our trial have been really positive, most notably:

• An overall satisfaction of 92% from receiving customers in the trial areas and 90% from neighbours
• 99% of recipients whose post was left with a neighbour were happy that their post had been left with a neighbour rather than returned to a delivery office
• Over one third (37%) of receiving customers stated that they would be more likely to shop from home as a result.

The change will take effect in late September 2012 (subject to regulatory approval).

Terms and conditions changes

Royal Mail Tracked® and Royal Mail Tracked Next Day®

Seasonal posters

Where a customer has indicated to us that they are a seasonal poster, we suspend our normal quarterly process and review the customer’s profile on an annual basis to allow for the seasonality.

This change to our terms will allow us to retrospectively charge customers who have given us a profile based on a certain volume and then posted significantly different amounts. The retrospective charge will be based on what customers would have paid if the profile had been estimated correctly in the first place.

This is reflected in term 6.6 of Royal Mail specific terms for Royal Mail Tracked® and Royal Mail Tracked Next Day®

Not posting within 60 days of agreement

When a customer signs a contract they hold that price for 12 months subject to their profile not changing significantly. This addition to our terms allows Royal Mail to review that price and apply the new tariff price should the customer not post for 60 days.

This is reflected in term 6.7 of Royal Mail specific terms for Royal Mail Tracked® and Royal Mail Tracked Next Day®.

Change takes effect on 1 October 2012

To see the Royal Mail Tracked® and Royal Mail Tracked Next Day® Specific Terms and Conditions that are currently valid, visit our Tracked® pages.

Royal Mail Tracked®

From 1 October 2012, we’re reducing the price of our SMS text and email notification packages on Royal Mail Tracked® parcels from 10p per parcel to 5p per parcel.

SMS text and email notification are increasingly popular with consumers and our

Royal Mail Tracked® business customers tell us that they get better satisfaction scores and higher first time delivery rates, as their customers know when parcels are due to be delivered. If your customer is out, delivery confirmation lets them know their parcel has arrived, or if a signature is required, they’ll know that someone else has accepted it.

From August 6 2012 customers total TrackedTM volumes, irrespective of product speed, will all count towards product entry criteria and discount level qualification.

With immediate effect and for customers in Northern Ireland, it’s now cheaper to use our Royal Mail Tracked® service to send parcels to the rest of the UK. If you post over 2,000 parcels a year go to: www.royalmail.com/tracked and get a quote from our Tracked™ calculator to see how you can benefit.

Update to Advertising Mail user guide

The following section (page 9, bullet point 5) has been updated from:

• your Multistage mailing must be directly linked to your main mailing i.e. the Multistage item must make direct reference to the main item, bear the same branding and relate to the same customer offer or opportunity

to

• your Multi-stage mailing must be directly related to your main mailing, bear the same branding and feature the same customer offer

More details at: www.royalmailtechnical.com

From 27 July 2012 we are making the following terms changes:

• Notifying you of terms and conditions changes
• An update in our Packet specific terms and user guide
• A temporary change to your Special Delivery™ services during the Olympic and Paralympic Games

Notifying you of terms and conditions changes

Currently our terms and conditions require all legal notices to be made in writing. We are updating the Royal Mail General Terms and Conditions, and some of the related product specific terms, to enable us to notify you in writing, via email or by posting changes on our website. We have clarified in our general terms that all notices must be given in writing and that ‘writing or written’ includes communication by e-mail and fax.

Where the terms previously said “tell’ (“we will tell you”) they now say ‘notify’ or ‘give you notice’.

We have clarified the address to which we may send notices.

We have deleted the reference to Royal Mail giving at least 90 days notice of any price increase ‘if our Regulator tells us that we must do this’ as it is no longer relevant.

We have also clarified that we may change our terms without the usual notice if it is for legal or regulatory reasons or other reasons outside of our control – this has moved from the international specific terms to the general terms.

For clarity, we have added to our general terms, a definition of ‘day’ as being a ‘calendar day’

• Royal Mail general terms and conditions June 2012
• Royal Mail packet specific terms and conditions June 2012
• Royal Mail Special Delivery terms and conditions June 2012
• Royal Mail Tracked and Tracked Next Day specific terms and conditions June 2012
• Royal Mail international contract services specific terms and conditions June 2012

An update in our Packet specific terms and user guide

Our Packet specific terms and user guide will be updated to make it clearer how the flat rate part of the service operates. We have made it clearer that flat rate services may be sampled by Royal Mail after the initial period and that retrospective adjustments are only made for items posted during the initial period. We have also extended the range of services for which we can use customer supplied information to amend their flat rate average weights giving seven days' notice. The Packet specific terms and user guide have been updated to reflect these changes.

A temporary change to your Special Delivery™ services during the Olympic and Paralympic Games

Special Delivery™ Next Day Additional transport restrictions and extended travel times in London during the Olympic and Paralympic Games mean we cannot guarantee delivery of all items in all parts of London by 1pm. Given these circumstance items due for delivery in London will be guaranteed for next day delivery rather than 1pm during the Games period*. We are amending the definition of “delivery time” in the specific terms to “the next working day after handover or on a Saturday if you choose to have a Saturday guaranteed delivery”. This change only affects items due for delivery in E, EC, N, NW, SE, SW, W and WC London postcode areas, during the Games period*. Items due for delivery in other parts of the UK will still be guaranteed for delivery by 1pm the next working day.

Special Delivery™ 9:00am Additional transport restrictions and extended travel times in London during the Olympic and Paralympic Games mean we cannot guarantee delivery of items by 9.00am. This affects items due for delivery in E, EC, N, NW, SE, SW, W and WC London postcode areas during the Games period*. Customers will still have the option to use Special Delivery™ Next Day for guaranteed next day delivery in any part of London, rather than the Special Delivery™ 9:00am service. The Special Delivery™ 9:00am service will continue to be available for delivery in other parts of the UK.
*The dates when these temporary changes are effective will be published on our dedicated service information web pages for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Please note outside the above postcode areas, the Special Delivery™ Next Day 1pm and 9:00am guarantees remain in place, including items leaving London for other parts of the UK.

• Changes to Printed Postage Impressions (PPI)
• Changes to the User Guide for Marketing, Publishing and General Correspondence Products
   

Changes to Printed Postage Impressions (PPI)

The design of our Printed Postage Impressions (PPI) is changing from 23 June 2012. Full details of the Licence for use of Royal Mail Printed Postage Impressions (PPIs) can be found in the PPI licence section.

Changes to the User Guide for Marketing, Publishing and General Correspondence Products

User Guide - table of changes (PDF, 33kb)

All changes are effective from 2nd April 2012 apart from the 'Deliver to Neighbour' trial which has been running since 28th November 2011.

These updated terms and conditions supersede any previous agreements or arrangements between us.

• Improved portfolio of products for advertisers, publishers and businesses sending general correspondence
• Changes to International Contract services
• Special Delivery™ 9:00am – extension to guaranteed time
• Changes to Royal Mail Tracked® and Tracked™ Next Day Specific Terms
• Minimum order value
• Paper posting cheques
• Withdrawal of Bulk Mail Compensation Scheme
• 1st and 2nd Class (account payment channel)
• Extension of Delivery to Neighbour trial
• Paperwork on collection
• Changes to products for users of Royal Mail franking services
• Terms and conditions changes from January 2012
   

Improved portfolio of products for advertisers, publishers and businesses sending general correspondence

April 2012 sees the launch of an improved portfolio of products that are more accessible, simpler to understand and easier to use. We have simplified and re-organised our products for advertisers, publishers and businesses sending general correspondence into just five products. Each has options to fulfil your mailing requirements:

• Advertising Mail™ – for all your marketing needs
• Sustainable® Advertising Mail – reducing the environmental impact of your marketing
• Publishing Mail – for publications and periodicals
• Business Mail 1st Class – for urgent general correspondence including bills / statements
• Business Mail – for general correspondence including bills / statements

On Monday 2nd April, depending on what services you use, we may be simply renaming a product or we may be changing the specifications or adding more options. In some cases, we will be realigning products and providing suitable alternatives.

Key changes

Lower entry levels on many sorted products – entry level is now standardised at 4,000 letters or 1,000 large letters or packets. This makes many of our contract products more accessible to your business.
Reduced number of sortation levels – to simplify our offer there are now only two levels of sortation across the entire sorted product portfolio, instead of five.
Faster delivery – we have reviewed our delivery speeds for sorted mail, to better meet your requirements. We are aiming to provide you with a narrower window of delivery, which will give you a much better idea of when your mail will arrive.
More choice – a machine-readable large letter specification, as well as increasing the range of Advertising Mail™ options.

For further details, please speak to your Account Manager or find out more about these products.

The following terms and conditions have been updated to reflect these changes:

• General terms and conditions - April 2012 (PDF, 196kb)
• Specific terms and conditions for marketing, publishing and general correspondence products - April 2012 (PDF, 92kb)
• User guide
• Rate cards
• PPI licence - April 2012 (PDF, 39kb)
• Account terms April 2012 (PDF, 55kb)
• Database licence for marketing, publishing and general correspondence products - April 2012 (PDF, 44kb)
• OBA terms and conditions April 2012 (PDF, 61kb)
• First time user terms and conditions - April 2012 (PDF, 48kb)
• First time user (international) terms and conditions - April 2012 (PDF, 44kb)
• Term contract pricing terms and conditions - April 2012 (PDF, 75kb)
• Term contract discounts terms and conditions - April 2012 (PDF, 67kb)
• Tailor Made Incentives terms and conditions - April 2012 (PDF, 52kb)
   

Changes to International Contract services

Our Contract specific terms and conditions allow us to surcharge you if you do not achieve the minimum spend requirement. The surcharge will now be either the difference between the amount paid and what you would have paid if you had used the next cheapest alternative service available or the difference between the amount paid and the minimum spend requirement, whichever is lower.

• We will have the ability to apply a surcharge on 14 days notice for sudden, unplanned changes to our cost base such as changes to security regulations which mean we have to undertake extra screening of items. This is to cover our exposure to the volatility of the export market.
• International High Volume services: the minimum selection quantities increase for Letters increase from 25 to 50 items and for Flats from 5 to 10 items.
• Destination Sort: Customers mailing to the USA using Destination Sort Priority and Standard service speeds are no longer required to despatch items over 500gms separately from the rest of their mail, making sorting mail quicker and easier. This will result in just one item and kg price for all traffic to the USA.
• Airsure: we now offer a fully tracked service to Australia, Latvia and Malta.
• International Signed For: this now has full end-to-end tracking to the following 20 destinations, offering greater peace of mind and visibility of your item through to delivery:

*For these countries, you can see the name of the person that has signed for the item electronically.

• The Specific Terms for International Contract Services (PDF, 80kb) have been updated to reflect this change.
   

Special Delivery™ 9:00am – extension to guaranteed time

Our delivery promise is to deliver your Special Delivery™ 9:00am items by 9:00am. However, we know that at some addresses no-one is available before 9:00am to receive and sign for the item. In these instances, it is inconvenient for both the sender and the receiving customer if we have successfully attempted delivery of the item before 9:00am, but the receiving customer misses the delivery because they are not there to receive and sign for it.

Therefore, to make it easier for urgent items to reach their destination as soon as possible, where we know from previous experience of an address that no-one is likely to be available to receive an item before 9:00 am, we are extending the delivery window by 30 minutes. Where this is the case, items delivered between 9:00am and 9:30am will now be classified as a successful delivery and no refund will be due. We are making this change to be flexible and meet the needs of your receiving customers in locations which cannot be accessed before 9:00am.

The Special Delivery specific terms (PDF, 80kb) have been updated to reflect this change.

Changes to Royal Mail Tracked® and Tracked™ Next Day Specific Terms

• Because we know you value a greater degree of stability to pricing of Tracked products, from 2nd April a pricing review will be triggered only if your profile price increases from your original agreement by more than 10% (or 5% if the impact of the change is valued at over £500,000). This will replace the current quarterly review of pricing.
• To make the service more cost reflective, we will be increasing the price of the optional signature from 25p to 30p.
• The Tracked and Tracked Next Day specific terms (PDF, 114kb) have been updated to reflect this change.

Minimum order value

We will no longer be charging a minimum order value on orders placed via your Online Business Account (currently £5) and posting cheques (currently £20).
For more information, see minimum order value

The following terms and conditions have been updated to reflect this change:

• General terms and conditions - April 2012 (PDF, 196kb)
• Account terms April 2012 (PDF 56kb)

Paper posting cheques

To better reflect the costs involved in handling them, the handling fee for paper posting cheques will increase from £1 to £10 plus VAT. Please note that paper posting cheques can still be used with Standard Account, Packetpost, Packetsort, International Non Contract services (Airmail and Surface Mail) and Special Delivery™. For more information, see posting cheques.

• The Royal Mail account terms (PDF, 56kb) have been updated to reflect this change.
   

Withdrawal of Bulk Mail Compensation Scheme

To bring our compensation policies in line with those of some other delivery companies, we are removing compensation for delay on the following non-time guaranteed services: Standard Tariff on Account (STL PPI), Cleanmail®, Response Services, Mailsort®, Advertising Mail™, Advertising Mail™ Light, Walksort®, Presstream®, Automated Standard Tariff Large Letter, mailmedia®, Sustainable® Mail, Big Book and Royal Mail Heavyweight.

Customers who are sending urgent or time-sensitive mail should use a time guaranteed service such as Special Delivery™.

The existing scheme states that we will pay customers a percentage of their postage costs in credit as compensation for delay if we miss our high annual Quality of Service targets by more than 1%. We are proud that our Quality of Service is such that we have not had to pay compensation pertaining to the scheme since 2006.

The following terms and conditions have been updated to reflect this change:

• Specific terms and conditions for marketing, publishing and general correspondence products - April 2012 (PDF, 96kb)
• Response Services terms and conditions (PDF, 64kb)
   

1st and 2nd Class (account payment channel)

We have introduced a new payment channel for 1st and 2nd Class items - by account. Like the other payment channels - stamps, online and franking - this service does not offer any discounts for volume or presentation and it is exempt from VAT.

To access this service simply use the new product code ‘BPL’, available on your Online Business Account system from 2nd April. Please also note that you can continue to use your current PPI Licence and envelope/label stock. There is no need for any changes to your posting procedures.

The terms and conditions below have been updated to reflect this change. Please note that we will also publish these updated terms in the London, Edinburgh and Belfast Gazettes, as we are legally required to do, in advance of the changes taking effect.

• More details on the Inland Letter Post Scheme.
   

Extension of Delivery to Neighbour trial

Since the end of November 2011 Royal Mail has been running a trial giving customers in the 6 trial areas quicker and more convenient access to mail we’ve not been able to deliver. Delivery to Neighbour is part of our ongoing programme to increase options for convenient delivery. It enables us to deliver items which are too large for the letter box to a neighbour, if the recipient is out.

We will evaluate the experience, but based on the positive feedback from customers so far, we will be extending the trial in the 6 areas until the end of November 2012, so that you can continue to benefit from this.

Special Delivery™, deliveries from overseas which require a signature and Tracked™ items requiring a signature delivered between 21 May 2012 and 30 September 2012 are excluded from the trial and will be taken back to the local Royal Mail depot in the normal way.

For more information including areas involved in the trial and how to opt out should you not wish to participate, see Delivery to Neighbour.
 

Paperwork on collection

Please be reminded that when mailing on account you are required to hand over the correct documentation with every collection. To ensure that your collections run smoothly, by having the right documentation ready for your driver, please see paperwork on collection.

• Clause 4.6 of the General terms and conditions - April 2012 (PDF, 196kb) describes the documentation you are required to provide us with with every collection.
   

Changes to products for users of Royal Mail franking services

Cleanmail becomes Business Mail - We have simplified and re-organised our products and Cleanmail is changing its name to Business Mail. It’s still simple, continues to offer the same great savings and is the ideal choice if you are posting over 500 letters a day through your franking machine and can separate mail by class. To continue using our soon-to-be Business Mail products through Royal Mail franking services, please make sure you are already using a SMART franking machine. If not, we advise you to upgrade as soon as you can to ensure an uninterrupted service.

For an update of the new selections for Business Mail and how to buy them on your machine see our Franking section.

International Signed For™ can now be tracked end-to-end to over 20 destinations worldwide offering greater peace of mind and visibility of your item through to delivery. When used in conjunction with Airmail, tracking is included at the point of acceptance; at the point of UK despatch; at the point of arrival overseas and on delivery/attempted delivery.

For more information, see International Signed For™.

Top tips to avoid incurring unnecessary fees and charges

1. Update the prices in your machine – The Legal Scheme for Franking Letters and Parcels (2008) states that customers’ equipment must display the correct prices at all times. Make sure you contact your supplier/manufacturer to get your tariff chip or prices download organised before the new prices go live. Having the right prices in your equipment ensures you never run the risk of underpaying and you will therefore save yourself an administration fee of £0.80 per mail piece plus the underpayment amount on each item.
2. Service your machine annually - Make sure your machine is in peak condition by organising an annual inspection for your franking machine in line with The Legal Scheme for Franking Letters and Parcels 2008 and your Royal Mail Licence to frank mail.
3. Refunds for incorrect prints - We recognise that mistakes are made, so our easy solution to an incorrectly printed franking impression is to refund the amount to you, less a 15% charge of the total value to cover administration costs. This change comes into effect in line with our new prices.

For more information, see the Franking scheme for letters and parcels or the product terms and conditions.

Terms and conditions changes from January 2012

For information relating to VAT on Mailsort 1 & 2 1400 from 6th December 2011, please visit www.royalmail.com/vat.

We have received permission from our regulator to make a number of changes to reflect the reality of today's postal market. The changes bring our terms and conditions more in line with other delivery companies.

The updated terms and conditions supersede any previous agreements or arrangements between us.

The terms and conditions documents below have been updated to reflect the changes:

• Royal Mail general terms and conditions (PDF 132KB)

• Royal Mail specific terms for International Contract Services (PDF 80KB)

• Royal Mail specific terms for Special Delivery™ services(PDF 78KB)

• Royal Mail specific terms for Royal Mail Tracked® (PDF 112KB)

• Royal Mail specific terms for Standard Tariff Services(PDF 59KB)

• Royal Mail specific terms for packet services(PDF 84KB)

All changes are effective from 9th January 2012.

Holding period for items we cannot deliver

If we are unable to deliver an item and the recipient does not arrange to have it redelivered, we will hold it at their local delivery office for a standard period of 18 days before we return it to the sender, where possible. This represents a change from seven days for Recorded Signed For items, 14 days for Royal Mail Tracked and 21 days for Special Delivery and all other services. This change makes it simpler for recipients to know how long they have to collect their item from us, if we haven’t been able to deliver it to their address.

Proof of delivery and refunds

We are introducing a three-month time limit from the date of posting for proof of delivery requests to Royal Mail Customer Services for Recorded Signed For™ and Special Delivery services, replacing the previous 12-month period. Customers will have three months to request a refund if we are unable to provide proof of delivery. You can still view proof of delivery on the Royal Mail website for up to 12 months after posting, but after 3 months from the date of posting you will still not be eligible for a fee refund should you find we didn’t get proof of delivery.

Making a compensation claim

Claims relating to loss or damage of items sent within the UK must be made within 80 calendar days of the date of posting. This replaces the previous term of 12 months and gives us a greater ability to find missing items and to identify causes of loss and damage. Claims relating to international services will continue to have a six-month claim period. As now, we will not accept claims until 15 days from the delivery due date have elapsed. We will pay compensation by crediting your Royal Mail account. We will also reserve the right to offset any outstanding debt you have with us, with any compensation we may owe you. Payment of compensation will only be made by cheque if a customer’s account has been closed.

 
Compensation for loss or damage of tracked items

Maximum compensation will no longer be linked to the value of a 1st Class stamp. Instead, maximum compensation for Royal Mail Tracked items will be £50. Standard compensation for International Signed For™ and Airsure® will also be £50 for contract customers, and enhanced compensation will remain available with Special Delivery, International Signed For and Airsure.

Packetpost and Packet sort compensation for delay

Customers using Packetpost and Packetsort will no longer be eligible for compensation for delay under the bulk mail compensation scheme for delay. Customers will continue to be eligible for delay compensation for other services currently in the scheme, and our Special Delivery service also offers compensation for delay.

•  Bulk Mail compensation for delay

Compensation for loss or damage of untracked contract items

We will no longer pay compensation for the loss or damage of items sent using contract services that do not include a tracking element. This includes both domestic and international services, and is in line with industry standards. Compensation is still available for loss or damage of stamped and franked items, and tracked services (Special Delivery, Royal Mail Tracked, International Signed For and Airsure). The range of packet services we offer gives you a choice of delivery speeds, tracking capability and levels of compensation. This change does not affect stamped and franked services.

Compensation for loss or damage of untracked non-contract items

From 30th April the maximum compensation available for loss or damage for untracked services such as customers who send items using untracked services such as 1st Class or 2nd Class (including when used with Recorded Signed For™), Standard Parcels, Articles for the Blind, Airmail and Surface Mail will be up to a maximum £46.00. Compensation is on the basis of actual loss, where evidence of posting and value can be provided. Enhanced compensation will no longer be available to purchase with Standards Parcels.

Compensation for loss or damage of International tracked non -contract items

From 30th April the standard compensation available for loss or damage for International Signed For™ and Airsure® will no longer be linked to the value of a 1st Class stamp. Standard compensation for both tracked services will be £50 with enhanced compensation remaining available to purchase. Compensation is on the basis of actual loss, where evidence of posting and value can be provided.