Terms changes

 
Change in the required amount you must spend to qualify for free weekday collections

From 7 October 2024 you must spend £20,000 (excluding VAT) per relevant 12-month period, per site on qualifying postal services to get a free weekday collection. Customers benefiting from free collections with qualifying Tracked accounts are not affected by this change. 

 
Changes to align with the Windsor Framework – sending goods from Great Britain (GB) to Northern Ireland (NI)

Customers are notified that we will need to make changes to our terms and conditions in relation to the Windsor Framework. Please see our web page royalmail.com/windsor-framework for the latest information and to keep up to date, including for any changes to terms and conditions.

 
Additional surcharge to hold containers for later delivery

From 30 September 2024, we will be introducing a new surcharge that will apply to Royal Mail Tracked Returns 24 and Royal Mail Tracked Returns 48. If, as a result of your action or omission, we hold your items for a later delivery date, we will surcharge you a fee per container for each day we have to store the items beyond the original scheduled delivery date. For further details about these charges, including the level of fees applied, please visit royalmail.com/surcharges

 
Introduction of a charge for Royal Mail 24 and Royal Mail 48 items returned to sender

From 30 September 2024 we will be introducing a charge for any Royal Mail 24 and Royal Mail 48 items that are returned to sender. For further details please visit royalmail.com/surcharges

 
Change in the postcode allocation by geographic zone for Royal Mail Tracked 24 and Royal Mail Tracked 48

From 30 September 2024 we will be amending the postcodes zonal classification as specified in our agreement and will be reallocating them as listed below. These will form part of the pricing criteria for Royal Mail Tracked 24 and Royal Mail Tracked 48.

 
Current Zone postcodes

• Zone 1: England, Wales and parts of Scotland, excluding Highlands and Islands and includes all postcodes not covered in Zones 2 and 3 below
• Zone 2: The Highlands and Islands – postcodes IV, HS, KA27-28, KW, PA20-49, PA60-78, PH17-26, PH30-44, PH49-50, Isle of Man, Bailiwick of Guernsey and States of Jersey, ZE, GY, JE, IM
• Zone 3: Northern Ireland and Isles of Scilly – postcodes BT, TR21-25

 
New Zone postcodes

• Zone 1: England, Wales and parts of Scotland, excluding Highlands and Islands and includes all postcodes not covered in Zones 2 and 3 below
• Zone 2: The Highlands and Islands – postcodes IV, HS, KA27-28, KW, PA20-49, PA60-78, PA80, PH17-26, PH30-44, PH49-50, Isle of Man, Bailiwick of Guernsey and States of Jersey, ZE, GY, JE, IM, FK20
• Zone 3: Northern Ireland, Isle of Wight, Scottish rural and Isles of Scilly – postcodes BT, TR21-25, AB35-38, AB53-56, FK18-19, PO30-41

 
Changes to delivery speed exclusions

We are making a change to the list of postcode exemptions for our next day service for sorted Business Mail, sorted Advertising Mail, sorted Publishing Mail and sorted Subscription Mail due to network changes which we anticipate will be ongoing until around 31 March 2025. After that date, we expect these additional postcode exemptions to be withdrawn. The only postcodes affected are PH19 – 50, ZE1, ZE2 & ZE3, HS1-5, HS6, HS7-8 & HS9, KW16, KW15 & KW17.

 
Supplementary Store Collection Fee

From 30 September 2024, a Supplementary Store Collection Fee will be charged where customers require collections from stores that are not from a street level collection point. The products affected by this supplementary fee include Royal Mail Tracked 24, Royal Mail Tracked 48, all variants of Special Delivery Guaranteed products and International Tracked outbound products.

This charge is to be implemented where customers require collections from stores that are not from a street level collection point. A charge will be made per store, per annum for every floor that Royal Mail need to ascend or descend to perform the collection.

 
Changes to delivery of large sized Royal Mail Tracked 24 and 48 parcels

From 19 August 2024* Royal Mail Tracked 24 and Tracked 48 items greater in size than 45cm x 35cm x 16cm may be delivered by Parcelforce Worldwide, a trading name of Royal Mail Group Limited. In this event there will be limited notifications sent to the recipient on these parcels, and Inflight options and photo on delivery will not be available. (* we will trial the change for a small number of items prior to this date).
 

 
Changes to Age verification service

From 10 July 2024, intended recipients will not be able to choose to change their delivery (inflight request) to a Post Office location for any items sent to them using an Age verification service.

 
Stop and Return for Royal Mail Tracked 24, Tracked 48 and Special Delivery Guaranteed business account customers

We will be making a change to our terms and conditions for business account customers sending Royal Mail Tracked 24, Tracked 48, or Special Delivery Guaranteed items. This change will enable the sending customer to request that an item is intercepted and returned to the sender’s address. We will aim to do this when requested but may not always be able to do so. Restrictions and limitations will apply.

 
Changes to Special Delivery, Tracked, and Standard services, where the photo on delivery feature is available

From 30 June 2024 we will be updating our terms and conditions to clarify that there may be instances, such as operational or privacy reasons, where a photo is not visible on the RM App and Track & Trace when using products with the Photo-on-Delivery feature.

 
Changes to delivery speed exclusions for Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am

We have updated the delivery speed exclusions in our terms and conditions for Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am to include a number of new postcodes. The only product impacted is Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am. For more information visit Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed.

 
Changes to delivery speed exclusions

We are making a change to the list of postcode exemptions for our next day service for sorted Business Mail, sorted Advertising Mail, sorted Publishing Mail and sorted Subscription Mail due to network changes, which we anticipate will be ongoing until around 31 March 2025. After that date, we expect these additional postcode exemptions to be withdrawn. The only postcodes affected are PH19 – 50, ZE1, ZE2 & ZE3, HS1-5, HS6, HS7-8 & HS9, KW16, KW15 & KW17.

 
Changes to delivery speed exclusions for Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am

From 13 May 2024, we will be updating the delivery speed exclusions in our terms and conditions for Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am to include a number of new postcodes. The only product impacted is Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am. For more information visit Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed.
 

 
Further clarification on bladed items policy for business customers

To help customers further, on 15 May 2024 we included more detailed information on our prohibitions and restrictions policy for bladed items which went live on 7 May 2024. This does not change the policy but is intended to provide customers with more clarity. For more details please visit royalmail.com/restricted

 
Royal Mail Tracked 24 and Royal Mail Tracked 48 available at Post Offices

From 2 April 2024, Royal Mail will add Royal Mail Tracked 24 and Royal Mail Tracked 48 to the range of services available to buy at Post Offices. These services will include an optional signature and redelivery options. Customers will also be able to opt for Safeplace which will be accessible online.
 

Royal Mail Signed For 1st Class and Royal Mail Signed For 2nd Class change to compensation

From 2 April 2024, Royal Mail is changing the level of compensation available on Royal Mail Signed For 1st Class and Royal Mail Signed For 2nd Class. The maximum compensation available on these services will now be £20. (Previously the maximum compensation was £50).

Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed Next Day service

We have introduced a new variant to our existing Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed service. This service called Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed Next Day is available to our customers using our account services and guarantees delivery by end of the next working day. Our Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm and Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am services will still be available. For more information visit Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed.
 

 
Letters and Large Letters Mailmark barcode change

From 2 January 2024, a default postcode option (XY99 1AA) is being added to the Mailmark barcode to make it easier to use Mailmark.

Currently to use the Mailmark barcode, the postcode of the recipient address must be added into the barcode. Where a postcode cannot be identified, the postcode can be populated with a default postcode, including blank spaces. However, if over 10% of Letters and Large Letters mailed include blank spaces in the barcode, then these items could be subject to a ‘Postcode Accuracy Adjustment Charge’ and more than 10% with a default postcode will be subject to a ‘default postcode charge’.

The new default postcode solution, will help customers enter a non geographical postcode into the Mailmark barcode and also minimise charges that may occur where they are unable to identify the actual postcode for the Letter.

To find out more about these changes, please visit Royal Mail Technical User Guides to view the Mailmark Definition Document. 

 
Withdrawal of OCR and High Sort Letter and Large Letter products

From 1 April 2024, following a consultation on our proposals, we have decided to withdraw OCR and High Sort Letters and Large Letters.

We are keen to work with all affected customers and help you transition your mail to the most suitable Mailmark and Advanced products for you.

To find out more about these changes and view frequently asked questions, please visit royalmail.com/lettersbarcoding

 
Changes to our next day delivery speed standards to Isle of Man (IM)

On 16 October 2023, we updated the delivery speed exclusions in our terms and conditions for Parcel and Letter services to include IM postcodes. The products impacted by this change are:

Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed^®, Royal Mail 24^®, First Class (Account Mail), Advertising Mail, Partially Addressed, Business Mail, Publishing Mail and Subscription Mail.

This means for Special Delivery Guaranteed, will no longer be a next day guaranteed service to all IM postcodes.

 
Notice of Changes to Specific Terms for Parcels

From 2 January 2024, we are amending clause 3.5 of the Specific Terms for Parcels relating to how we apply pricing adjustments if your posting profile changes. This will mean if your Actual Posting Profile changes from your Initial Posting Profile, we may increase your current price point giving you at least 30 days’ notice of such amendment.

In addition, we are removing clauses 3.6 – 3.8 (inclusive) of the Specific Terms for Parcels which relate to certain rights we have, and obligations you have, in relation to changes or deviations in your Posting profile.

 
New Correction Charges for all account customers posting UK & International products

It is important that Items are presented in accordance with our Terms and Conditions to avoid additional charges. From 2 January 2024, we are introducing new terms regarding how your Items must be presented, and corresponding charges that will be applied where you have not complied with those terms. Details of Royal Mail charges can be found on royalmail.com/surcharges

1. Label Incorrectly Applied: labels must be: clear & legible; applied on the largest flat surface of the item, with no creases or folds; and barcode & address information must not wrap around the edges of the item
2. Incorrect Packaging: packaging must always be of a suitable strength and thickness for the size and weight of the goods being posted
3. Incorrect Product used for International items: you must use an International product to send your International items
4. Missing Customs Data: an electronic CN22 or CN23 Customs Declaration (as applicable) must be affixed and complete, accurate electronic advanced customs data for international posting must be submitted at the time of dispatch
5. Individual item return to sender: if we need to return your item(s) due to any non-compliance by you with the terms of our Agreement.

Information on the requirement to present mail correctly can be found in our Terms and Conditions at royalmail.com/termsandconditions and applicable user guides:
royalmail.com/parcels-user-guidepdf, 5.83 MB &
royalmail.com/international-user-guidepdf, 6.56 MB

For additional steps and guidance on how to prepare and present mail, including help with customs and sending goods aboard, and help to complete your posting documentation or manifest, please visit the help section dedicated to our business customers at royalmail.com/businesshelp

For further help and support in presenting and manifesting Items correctly, please visit royalmail.com/surchargehelp

 
Changes to the loss claim process

From 2 January 2024, we may require customers to provide proof of non-delivery from the intended recipient to support a claim for loss compensation. This will apply to all Royal Mail Tracked^® and all Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed^® services. To find out more about these changes and to access the proof of non-delivery form, please visit royalmail.com/business-claims

 
Change to the definition of Data Protection Legislation

From 1st January 2024, we are updating the definition of Data Protection Legislation in our General Terms to reflect changes in legislation.

 
Changes to our next day delivery speed standards to Isle of Man (IM1-9, IM 86,87,99)

From 16 October 2023, we are updating the delivery speed exclusions in our Terms and Conditions for Parcel and Letter services to include IM postcodes (IM1-9, 86, 97,99).

All variants of the following products will be impacted:

• Special Delivery Guaranteed
• Royal Mail 24
• First Class (Account)
• Advertising Mail
• Partially Addressed
• Business Mail
• Subscription Mail

For the avoidance of doubt this means for Special Delivery Guaranteed there will no longer be a next day guaranteed service to IM postcodes (IM1-9, 86,97,99).

 
Mail Presentation and Correction Charges

It is important that Items are presented in accordance with your Agreement and that you provide accurate posting documentation. As such, from 2 October 2023 we will be updating our terms and conditions to clarify:

• that royalmail.com/surchargehelp is available to support customers to present and manifest Items correctly
• that we may, at any time, check Items both manually and/or via our automated machines
• the distinction between Surcharges and Correction Charges. Details of charges can be found at royalmail.com/surcharges

 
Manual sorted products

With effect from 2 October 2023, we are introducing new manual sorted product options for Business Mail, Advertising Mail including Partially Addressed and Publishing Mail. The new manual options are designed for customers who cannot use the Mailmark product. Full details are available in the user guides and price guides.

 
Changes to our next day delivery speed standards to Jersey (JE)

On 7 August 2023, we updated the delivery speed exclusions in our terms and conditions for Parcel and Letter services to include JE postcode (JE1-4). The products impacted by this change are:

Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed^®, Royal Mail 24^®, First Class (Account Mail), Advertising Mail, Partially Addressed, Business Mail and Subscription Mail. For the avoidance of doubt this means for Special Delivery Guaranteed there will no longer be a next day guaranteed service to JE postcodes (JE1-4).

 
Changes to Age Verification process

The age verification service was updated in August 2023. The process involves Royal Mail requesting a year of birth from the customer when delivering any age verification product. As per the terms of providing age verification services, it is your responsibility to notify the purchaser of the item about this new requirement.

Details are available at royalmail.com/age-verification-terms-conditions

As a reminder, you must comply with prohibited and restricted materials terms and conditions when using the age verification service. In particular, your attention is drawn to the prohibition on sending certain types of knives and other offensive weapons.

Further details are available at royalmail.com/prohibited-restricted-help

 
Changes to International Export products

We’ve recently made some changes to our International Export products.

This includes the introduction of our International Tracked push email notifications to select destinations, the launch of International Tracked Heavier for items up to 30kg using medium parcel dimensions (61cm x 46cm x 46cm) and the availability of new Postal Delivery Duties Paid destinations.

In addition, over the second half of this calendar year (2023) we are making the following changes:

• an alignment on our Zonal and Worldwide products to implement a Non-Personal Correspondence or Personal Correspondence contents definition
• a restriction of Max Sort services to Personal Correspondence only
• the retirement of a subset of Economy, Machinable and Mixed Format product codes

Further details below:

 
Changes to our next day delivery speed standards to Jersey (JE)

From 7 August 2023, we are updating the delivery speed exclusions in our Terms and Conditions for Parcel and Letter services to include JE postcodes (JE1-4).

The following products will be impacted:

• Special Delivery Guaranteed
• Royal Mail 24
• First Class (Account)
• Advertising Mail
• Partially Addressed
• Business Mail
• Subscription Mail

For the avoidance of doubt this means for Special Delivery Guaranteed there will no longer be a next day guaranteed service to JE postcodes (JE1-4).

 
Sharing of information

From 3 August 2023, our General Terms and Conditions will be updated to clarify that we may share information regarding the contents of the Agreement between you and us, with certain third parties (for example, professional advisors, auditors and contractors), for the purposes of us exercising our rights or carrying out our obligations in connection with the Agreement. In addition, we are clarifying that we may disclose such information if it is required by law.

 
Changes to how we will deliver a parcel when there is no answer at the address

From the end of July 2023, we will be making changes to our Terms and Conditions to reflect that intended recipients will have the ability to use the Royal Mail App to set a delivery preference, specifying where we should leave their parcels when no one is available to accept delivery.

We will be entitled to leave parcels in accordance with such requests (we may, however, also choose not to leave a parcel in a designated location if we consider the location unsuitable). Where the intended recipients opt to provide us with their suitable designated location, the parcel will be deemed delivered once it has been left in the designated location.

This change does not impact the following services: 

• Royal Mail 1st Class and 2nd Class letters and large letters
• Royal Mail Special Delivery^® by 9am or by 1pm 
• Royal Mail Age Verification service
• Royal Mail ID Verification service
• Royal Mail Signed For^® service

 
Changes to automatically onboarding Royal Mail Tracked Returns® customers to Parcel Collect

From July 2023, we are updating our General Terms and Conditions to incorporate the Royal Mail Specific Terms for Parcel Collect. Online Business Account customers, using our Royal Mail Tracked Returns^® service will automatically be given access to the Parcel Collect service and the Specific Terms for Parcel Collect will also form part of their contract with us going forward.

 
Changes to Publishing and Advertising Mail

From 3 April 2023, parcel formats will be withdrawn from the Publishing Mail and Advertising Mail products. Royal Mail will directly contact impacted customers to assist migrating to alternative products.

 
Change to maximum weight for Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed^®

From 3 April 2023, we are increasing the maximum permitted weight per single item carried by Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed^® products from 10kg to 20kg for account customers. This change applies to all variants of Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed^® for account customers, other than the by 9am product where the maximum permitted weight per single item will remain at 2kg.
 
 
Change to maximum value for Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed^®

From 3 April 2023, we are increasing the maximum permitted value per single item that may be carried by any Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed^® product from £2,500 to £5,000. The maximum value of compensation paid will remain at £2,500, it is just the maximum permitted value per single item that is being increased. Currency, foreign exchange and similar items are excluded from this change, and the maximum permitted value of such items sent using Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed^® products shall remain at £2,500. The definition of ‘similar items’ in relation to Currency, foreign exchange etc includes: Money (including, tickets, coins (of any currency), bank notes (of any currency), postal orders, cheques; unused postage and revenue stamps and National Insurance stamps; exchequer bills, bills of exchange, promissory notes and credit notes; bonds, coupons and other investment certificates; and coupons, vouchers, tokens, cards, stamps and other documents that can be exchanged for money, goods or services, dividend warrants uncrossed and payable to bearer or bond coupons).
 
 
Change to maximum value for Royal Mail Tracked^® and Royal Mail Tracked Returns^®

From 3 April 2023, we are increasing the maximum permitted value per single item that may be carried by Royal Mail Tracked^® and Royal Mail Tracked Returns^® from £500 to £750.
 
 
Change to inclusive compensation for Royal Mail Tracked^® and Royal Mail Tracked Returns^®

From 3 April 2023, we are increasing the inclusive compensation per single item carried by Royal Mail Tracked^® and Royal Mail Tracked Returns^® from £100 to £150.
 

Changes to Royal Mail Tracked 24 and Royal Mail Tracked 48 Postcode exceptions

From 27 March 2023 there will be changes to the Royal Mail Tracked 24 and Royal Mail Tracked 48 Postcode exceptions.  The following postcodes will be added to the current exceptions list: KA27, PA20, PA28-PA38, PA41-PA48, PA76, PA77, PA80, ZE1.

For more information on existing postcode exceptions please visit, Terms and conditions | Royal Mail.  The new set of exceptions listed above will be included in the April 2023 Parcels user guide.

 
From 3 January 2023, we are updating our General Terms and Conditions to allow us to end your agreement with us if you have not made any postings for a period of at least 3 months. At the same time, we will be updating our General Terms and Conditions to allow us to suspend your use of any individual products which you have not used for at least 3 months and, where appropriate, amend the price of those products should we agree to re-instate them.

For more information on our general terms and conditions, please visit royalmail.com/terms-and-conditions

 
Changes to Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed®

From 30 October 2022, account customers* posting items on a Saturday with Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed^® will be able to select guaranteed next day delivery on a Sunday.

*Not applicable to customers using our Basic Barcodes solution

From 29 October 2022, we removed the fee for Special Delivery Saturday Guaranteed for customers paying on account. For account customers, items posted on a Friday will be guaranteed for delivery by 9am or by 1pm on a Saturday, depending upon the service chosen, with no additional fee required. For further information on existing geographic restrictions apply, please visit royalmail.com/help/sunday-delivery-geographical-exceptions

 
Safeplace Delivery Improvements

From the end of September 2022, if there is no recipient in to accept your parcel(s), we may choose to deliver them to a Safeplace location at the address, if our postman or postwoman deems that location to be suitable (currently we only leave safe if the recipient has asked us to directly).

In that case, we will also leave a “Something For You” card explaining where the parcel(s) is located. If we are unable to find a suitable Safeplace and cannot deliver to a neighbour, we will return your parcel(s) to our local Royal Mail Customer Service Point and leave a “Something For You” card at the address.

This applies to any non-letterboxable products that do not require a signature on delivery. Special Delivery Guaranteed, Tracked^® with signature, Age/ID verification and Articles for the Blind remain ineligible for Safeplace.

 
Integration with Hurricane Modular Commerce Software services across International Shipping Solutions

From Wednesday 27 April 2022 Royal Mail will be using a validation and screening software on our International Shipping Solutions, to help make inputting your customs data quicker and easier for your international items. To accommodate this additional service, we will be making some changes to your terms and conditions. 

For more information on our supplier Hurricane Modular Commerce.com, their software and how these changes will impact your data, please read our FAQs documentpdf, 130.73 KB.

 
Changes to items sent via Royal Mail 24® and Royal Mail 48®

From 28 March 2022, customers posting via Royal Mail 24^® and Royal Mail 48^® will be required to provide an accurate weight and pre-advice for each item, unless they are using our Basic Barcode solution or are a flat rate customer. A flat rate is a standard charge calculated by Royal Mail based on your posting profile for each Royal Mail 24^® and Royal Mail 48^® item where such standard charge applies for a fixed period of time.

 
Capturing photos on delivery

From 1 March 2022 we may capture a photograph of your item(s) being delivered, which will be considered evidence of the delivery. In the photograph, your item(s) may appear alongside other item(s) delivered at the same time and we may also make that photograph accessible to the senders of those items as well as the recipient.

Introduction of new Environmental Guidance

We want to help our customers mail sustainably so we have created new Environmental Guidance* that we are encouraging customers using our Advertising Mail, Business Mail, Publishing Mail and Subscription Mail products to follow from 4 January 2022. 

For further information on the Environmental Guidance, please visit our Environmental Guidance page.

Withdrawal of the Sustainable Advertising Mail product

We have taken the decision to simplify our Advertising Mail product variants and will be withdrawing the Sustainable Advertising Mail product on 3 January 2022. From 4 January 2022 customers currently posting using the Sustainable Advertising Mail product will need to post via the existing Advertising Mail product or an alternative third-party product, which will be available via customers’ Online Business Account.

Customers migrating from Sustainable Advertising Mail to Advertising Mail will not adversely be affected.

* Please note that we are not mandating for customers to adopt the specifications within the Guidance.

 
Changes when sending items to the Isles of Scilly via Royal Mail Tracked^®

From 1 October 2021, postcode areas TR21-TR25 in the Isles of Scilly will be added to the delivery aim exclusion list for our Royal Mail Tracked 24^® and Royal Mail Tracked 48^® services.

 
Changes to Royal Mail Business Collections – Monthly Payments

We are making changes to how we handle late payments for our Business Collections service. From 1 October 2021, for customers paying for their collections on an agreed monthly fee basis, failure to make payment for two or more consecutive months will result in a mandatory move to payment by Direct Debit or an Annual Payment account. If a customer is unable or unwilling to move to the new payment method, then this will result in a termination of their collection service.

 
Changes to Royal Mail Business Collections – Pro Rata Refunds

From 1 October 2021, any customers who meet the required spend criteria and are successful in their application for a free business collection will be entitled to a pro-rata refund for their collection fees. The pro-rata refund will be calculated from the date on which the customer meets the qualifying spend criteria.

 
Changes to items sent via Royal Mail 24^® and Royal Mail 48^® 

From 1 October 2021, customers posting via Royal Mail 24^® and Royal Mail 48^® will be required to provide an accurate weight and pre-advice for each item, unless they are using our Basic Barcode solution or are a flat rate customer. A flat rate is a standard charge calculated by Royal Mail based on your posting profile for each Royal Mail 24^® and Royal Mail 48^® item where such standard charge applies for a fixed period of time.

Note: to allow customers to meet this requirement we extended the timescale to 28 March 2022.

 
Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am

From Tuesday 31 August 2021 we will reinstate our guarantee times for Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am as follows.

For items posted from Tuesday 31 August 2021 we will guarantee deliveries by 9.00am* the next working day.  From that date we will accept claims for delay or consequential loss (where purchased) as a result of delay for items posted using the Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9.00am service that are not delivered by 9.00am the next working day. This includes items where a Saturday guarantee has been purchased.

*existing postcode exceptions apply

 
Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm

From Tuesday 31 August 2021 we will reinstate our guarantee times for Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm as follows.

For items posted from Tuesday 31 August 2021 onwards we will guarantee deliveries by 1.00pm* the next working day.  From that date we will accept claims for delay or consequential loss (where purchased) as a result of delay for items posted using the Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1.00pm service that are not delivered by1.00pm the next working day. This includes items where a Saturday guarantee has been purchased.

*existing postcode exceptions apply

  
Changes to Business Mail and Advertising Mail

Business Mail and Advertising Mail customers will no longer be able to process Royal Mail Signed For^® services via their Online Business Account (OBA). Any items requiring Royal Mail Signed For^® will need to be processed separately via a shipping solution platform, where
Signed For labels can be printed and applied to existing mail pieces. 

From 12 July 2021, those customers using Royal Mail Signed For^® will be contacted directly to begin their migration and supported through this change. It may take a while before we are in touch with you, so please do bear with us. 

  
Changes to items sent with unbarcoded labels

If you are affected by this change, you will have received our recent communication about us withdrawing all products that do not carry a 2D barcoded label, and the need to register for migration by 30 June 2021.

As a result, if you’re using unbarcoded or 1D barcoded labels you will need to begin migrating to, and to continue using, a solution that prints out 2D barcoded labels. 2D barcodes are data‑rich barcodes generated through shipping solutions, that enable Royal Mail to link an item to the posting customer’s account.

This change will impact the following services:

• Royal Mail 1st Class
• Royal Mail 2nd Class
• Royal Mail 24^®
• Royal Mail 48^®
• Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed^® by 9am or by 1pm
• Royal Mail Signed For^®

We’ll be in touch to provide you with your exact migration date and to support you through this process. If you’re unable to migrate to any of the shipping solutions, please let us know, by visiting royalmail.com/barcodingfeedback and we’ll get in touch to work through your options with you.
 

Choosing the right shipping solution

We offer a range of Parcel Shipping Solutions that will automatically add a 2D barcode to your parcels. These include:

• Click & Drop^® suitable for all businesses and marketplace sellers 
• Pro Shipping API for customers who want to integrate directly into their own order management systems

You also have the option to choose from a variety of approved third-party partners who will help you with your Royal Mail shipping labels and postage. More information on shipping solutions can be found here. 

You may also wish to view our FAQs here to learn more about these changes. 

If you did not receive our recent communications informing you of the migration, but believe you are impacted by the above change, please visit royalmail.com/barcodingfeedback where we’ll get in touch to discuss your options with you. 

 
Registered Address Change

Our General Terms have been updated to reflect a change in our registered address.

 
Response Services change

We are adding permitted items and contents guidance for Response Services letter and large letter items.

 
Parcel Specific terms change

From 18 February 2021 our Parcel Specific terms and conditions will include a section about the resale of undeliverable items that are returned to you. This is to make it clear that you must remove or obliterate any personal data and any imagery or words related to Royal Mail before displaying such items for sale or otherwise disposing of them.

 
Change to the definition of 'Data Protection Legislation' in the General Terms and Conditions

On 13 January 2021, the General Terms and Conditions were updated to reflect applicable data protection legislation following the end of the Brexit transition period. Businesses should make sure they are familiar with their responsibilities under relevant data protection legislation.

The General Terms and Conditions can be found here.

 
Economy delivery speed change

The delivery speed for Economy will be changing from 4 working days to 6 working days. The 6-day delivery span provides the opportunity to create additional efficiencies by grouping mail items to be delivered to the same mailing address on the same day. These efficiency changes will help ensure the Economy service remains a low-cost service for customers' communications when speed of delivery is not essential. This change will apply to the following products: Business Mail; Advertising Mail; Sustainable Advertising Mail; Advertising Mail with Response and Partially Addressed.

 
Mailmark® change

We are making changes to our specification for using Mailmark, which will allow letters to be sealed by a tab. This change will apply to the following products: Mailmark® with Business Mail; Advertising Mail; Sustainable® Advertising Mail; Advertising Mail with Response; Partially Addressed; Publishing Mail and Subscription Mail.
 

Business Mail change

We are updating the permitted items and contents guidance for Business Mail letter and large letter items.
 

Advertising Mail change

We are updating our terms to introduce a 0.3% voluntary levy (up to a cap of £5,000.00 in the first year) on all items of Royal Mail Advertising Mail; Sustainable Advertising Mail; Advertising Mail with Response; and Partially Addressed Mail to help finance the activities of JICMAIL (the Joint Industry Committee for Mail). The levy is voluntary; customers can make a claim to JICMAIL to get the levy refunded. The changes are effective from 1 January 2021 or such later date as notified by us on our website.
 

New customs and tax procedures when sending to the European Union

The transition period between the EU and UK is due to end on the 31 December 2020. The impact of the future relationship on cross-border parcel volumes will depend on the nature of the UK’s future trading relationships, and what future EU/UK customs and VAT arrangements look like. At the time of going to print, items containing goods being sent to the EU will require a customs declaration (CN22 or CN23) and associated electronic data. Items of non-personal correspondence/goods (excluding personal correspondence) sent outside the UK should not be charged VAT in the UK. Any taxes and duties will be collected by the in-country delivery partner prior to delivery or via new VAT collection schemes in the receiving country. For more information on how the end of the transition period may affect you, and to assess available options, please visit royalmail.com/brexit
 

Provision of electronic customs data from 1 January 2021

Domestic (UK) and International law has changed, affecting how mail and parcels will be cleared in the future. This may continue to change. These new laws are driven by stricter aviation security and fiscal requirements. Mail and parcels need to be electronically cleared and electronic customs data needs to be submitted in advance of the mail or parcels’ movement from 1 January 2021. It is the sender’s responsibility to ensure that they are compliant and provide the correct electronic customs data. Failure to comply is likely to result in your deliveries being delayed or returned. For guidance on how best to provide the required electronic customs data, please visit royalmail.com/electronic-customs-data
 

Max Sort Customers - requirement to supply electronic customs data

For Maxsort (Pre–Sorted) products we are currently NOT asking customers to ‘nest’ (identify which items are located in which receptacle/sack) when presenting your items to Royal Mail. From 1 January 2021, we ARE continuing to ask customers to provide pre–sorted items as they do today with compliant customs data using an approved shipping platform. Please refer to royalmail.com/maxsorthome

 
We’re making it clearer how we notify you about Working Days

From 21 December 2020, the clause relating to providing products on Working Days in our General Terms and Conditions, will be updated to highlight that this information will be available on our website.

 
We are updating the Pre-Advice clauses within the Parcel specific terms and conditions

From 1 October 2020, the clauses relating to Pre-Advice within the Parcel Specific terms and conditions are being updated to make it clear that a reconciliation surcharge may be applied in cases where items are either under-declared or incorrectly declared in the customer’s Pre-Advice submission.

As a reminder from 1 July 2020, we changed how surcharges are communicated. These are communicated on our dedicated web page at royalmail.com/surcharges.

Response Services changes

The maximum thickness for Business Reply Standard, Freepost Standard and Freepost NAME large letters will change from 50mm to 25mm with effect from 4 January 2021. This is an extension to the previous date of 5 October 2020 advised in our communication earlier this year.

If you have any difficulties implementing this change, please contact us either by: 

Email: response.services@royalmail.com

or write to us: 

Business Response
Royal Mail
Dearne House
Cortonwood Business Park
Brampton
Barnsley
S73 0UF

Mailmark® changes

We are making three changes to our specifications for using Mailmark® with Business Mail, Advertising Mail, Advertising Sustainable, Publishing Mail and Subscription Mail: we are introducing an additional one-piece mailer specification for letters; a paper wrap specification for large letters; and relaxing the specification for the location of the delivery address and barcode for large letters. The changes are effective from 1 October 2020.

For further information please see the user guides

Data required to be compliant with international electronic customs data regulations

It is important that you provide the correct electronic customs data when shipping internationally. If you are sending an item that needs a CN 22 or CN 23 customs declaration, the item will also need to be accompanied with specific electronic data about the sender, recipient and information concerning the item(s) contained in the package. For details on the full range of compliant data fields, please visit royalmail.com/electronic-customs-data

It has been mandatory to provide electronic customs data for each item (containing anything other than personal correspondence) since 1 January 2019. This is a Universal Postal Union (UPU) requirement and one that is increasingly being enforced with tighter controls being applied by countries from 1 January 2021.

Changes to international remedial charges and surcharges

From October 2020 we will be changing a number of remedial charges and surcharges. To meet our delivery aims we must process your items as quickly and efficiently as possible. If there are errors in the way postal items are presented to us, it costs us to correct the error which is why we are looking to raise an adjustment for this. 

Any changes to surcharges and remedial charges will be communicated on our dedicated web page at royalmail.com/surcharges, following new notice provisions for surcharges and remedial charges, which will be detailed in our general terms and conditions.

 
Door to Door Promotional Prices for bookings up to 200,000 items

The Door to Door Promotional Prices published in our current rate card will continue to be charged for Standard Door to Door contracts booked up to 200,000 items until further notice. We will issue further communications and a revised rate card in due course.

If you have any questions please contact the Door to Door Team on 0345 266 085.

 
Adapting and evolving our services to allow a quick response to exceptional circumstances

So we can address exceptional circumstances such as COVID-19 (Coronavirus) and any impact on our operations outside of our control, we updated our General Terms and Conditionspdf, 468.64 KB on 30 March to allow us to quickly respond to this and any future evolving situation. 

If and when we need to make changes to how we provide our domestic and international services we will publish all the relevant details on our website.
 

Changing and improving how we communicate surcharge changes

From 1 July 2020, we are changing how we communicate changes in our surcharges. Any changes to surcharges will be communicated on our dedicated web page at royalmail.com/surcharges, following new notice provisions for surcharges, which will be detailed in our general terms and conditionspdf, 468.64 KB.
  

Matters beyond our reasonable control

From the 1 July, our General Terms and Conditionspdf, 468.64 KB will be updated to help clarify the type of matters which are beyond our reasonable control, and by the means by which we can promptly notify you of such matters, via our website.

Within the General Terms and Conditionspdf, 468.64 KB, epidemics, pandemics and Government action will be added to the list of matters which are beyond our reasonable control, and we will make a further update to allow us to notify you of matters beyond our reasonable control via our website.
 

We are making changes to the total spend required to qualify for a free Business Collection

From 1 July 2020, for customers who signed up for a Business Collection before 25 March 2019, the total spend to qualify for a free Business Collection is changing to £16,500 per annum.

This matches the same qualifying spend criteria required of customers who applied for a free Business Collection after 25 March 2019.

The latest business collection agreement can be found here.
  

We are making it clearer which Royal Mail products contribute towards qualifying spend for a free Business Collection

From 1 July, we are automating our processes to make it easier and clearer to understand which products contribute towards the qualification spend for a free Business Collection. These will be products purchased via a Franking machine or Royal Mail Account.

The products which contribute towards qualifying spend via Franking machine or Account, are:

1st Class and 2nd Class, 
Royal Mail Signed For^® 1st Class, 
Royal Mail Signed For^® 2nd Class,
Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am and by 1pm, 
Royal Mail 24^® and Royal Mail 48^®, 
Roya Mail Tracked 24^® and Royal Mail Tracked 48^®, 
Royal Mail Advertising Mail, 
Sustainable Advertising Mail, 
Royal Mail Business Mail, 
Royal Mail Publishing Mail, 
International Standard, 
International Economy, 
International Tracked & Signed, 
International Tracked, 
International Signed
 

Customer Collection and Floor Fees terms and conditions

We are amending a few clauses dealing with what happens when services need to be suspended, or are otherwise affected by reasons outside of our control, how notices would be communicated in the future, and clarificatory amendments regarding the annual renewal of the agreement. This will take effect from 1 July 2020.
 

International Services

The world is currently going through some significant changes - with borders between countries becoming more secure, with trade agreements and tariffs being reviewed by many of the World’s Governments. These are changing how Royal Mail operates its International services and requires a number of changes.
 

International Services – changes to The Overseas Post Scheme

Postal Schemes set out the terms and conditions for consumers and business customers who use Royal Mail’s services but do not hold an individual contract with Royal Mail. This includes customers who use stamps, online postage, franking meters or some credit accounts to pay for our services. We have consulted and made changes to The Overseas Post Scheme that will come into effect on 1 July 2020. Details of the changes are as follows:

(i) That alternative means of showing receipt may be used in lieu of signature overseas (e.g. scanning an identity card) for our International Tracked & Signed and International Signed products
(ii) Clarification that we have a range of options to treat items resembling prohibited goods going into our network, such as returning the items to sender or destroying the items
(iii) That scam mail and foreign lottery materials are prohibited from being sent via our network
(iv) We are removing references to pricing zones to give us the flexibility to price at a destination or country level to allow us to better reflect the costs that we incur
(v) That we require certain customs data and electronic customs data processes to be followed when dispatching items overseas, details of which may be found on our website

The new version of the Scheme is called The Overseas Post Scheme July 2020 and is available to view at https://www.royalmailgroup.com/en/about-us/regulation/consultations-and-notifications/
 

International Business Contract Zonal Products

On 1 July 2020 a new zonal pricing structure will apply to International Business Contract Zonal products.

All items sent using zonal sortation will be required to select the appropriate zone and pricing dependent on format. The change is required to enable Royal Mail to more clearly reflect the costs incurred sending to different Rest of World locations.

Please go to royalmail.com/prices2020 to review new Business Contract zone changes.
 

Provision of Electronic Customs Data

It has been mandatory to provide electronic customs data for each item (containing anything other than general correspondence) since 1 January 2019. This is a Universal Postal Union (UPU) requirement and one that is increasingly being enforced with tighter controls being applied by countries from 1 January 2021. In order to assist you, we will be making some changes to our pre-advice specification and shipping platforms to facilitate the provision of the correct data.

It is your responsibility to ensure that you are compliant and provide the correct electronic customs data. Failure to comply is likely to result in delays or having items returned.

To assist you with guidance on how best to provide the required electronic customs data, please visit royalmail.com/electronic-customs-data

 
Please note

Due to the current coronavirus situation, we’ve made the following changes:
 

Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am & 1pm

On Wednesday 23 December we will temporarily suspend our next day guarantee. Any items posted on 23 December are not guaranteed to be delivered on the next working day (or relevant postcode exception alternative guaranteed day).

As a result, for items posted on that date we will not consider a claim for delay or consequential loss as a result of delay for items posted using our Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am or 1pm services.

Temporary change to postal arrangements on Saturdays

For six weeks from 2 May until 13 June we temporarily stopped delivering letters* on a Saturday. From May 16 until 13 June we temporarily stopped delivering Royal Mail 48 on a Saturday. Letters and Royal Mail 48 were delivered as normal from Monday to Friday during this time. We resumed the six-day-a-week delivery of letters and all parcels from 13 June. Accordingly, during the applicable temporary periods, Saturday was not considered a ‘working day’ for all letters* and Royal Mail 48.

*This temporary change did not apply to Special Delivery Guaranteed, Royal Mail Tracked and 1st and 2nd Class Signed For services. We continued delivering these services Monday through Saturday.

Click here for more information

Return to regular retention periods in Customer Service Points

To help our customers during the early days of Covid-19, between Monday 6 April and Monday 31 August 2020, we temporarily extended the retention period to 30 calendar days, to give recipients longer to collect or have their item redelivered before returning items to the sender. From Tuesday 1 September 2020 the retention period will revert to the standard 18 calendar days (21 calendar days for Custom charges).

This applies to the following:

• Items we’ve left a ‘Something for You’ card
• Items that have a ‘Surcharge to Pay’
• Items that have a ‘Customs Charge to Pay’
• Local Collect items where the parcel is addressed to the Customer Service Point or Post Office® branch

Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am

From Monday 28 September we’ll be improving our timed guarantee for Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am and will make the following change.

For items posted from Monday 28 September onwards we will guarantee deliveries by 11.00am* the next working day.  As a result, from that date we will not consider a claim for delay or consequential loss as a result of delay for items posted using the Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9.00am service that are delivered between 9.00am and 11.00am the next working day.  This includes items where a Saturday guarantee has been purchased.

For items posted from Tuesday 31 March 2020 up to Saturday 26 September 2020 we guarantee items to be delivered by 12.00pm* the next working day.  As a result, we will not consider a claim for delay or consequential loss as a result of delay for items posted using the Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9.00am service, that are delivered between 9.00am and 12.00pm the next working day during this period.  This includes items where a guarantee for a Saturday delivery has been purchased.

*existing postcode exceptions apply

Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm

From Monday 28 September we’ll be improving our timed guarantee for Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm and will make the following change.

For items posted from Monday 28 September 2020 onwards we will guarantee deliveries by 4.00pm* the next working day.  As a result, from that date we will not consider a claim for delay or consequential loss as a result of delay for items posted using the Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1.00pm service that are delivered between 1.00pm and 4.00pm the next working day.  This includes items where a Saturday guarantee has been purchased.

For items posted from Tuesday 31 March 2020 up to Saturday 26 September 2020 we guarantee items to be delivered by 9.00pm* the next working day.  As a result, we will not consider a claim for delay or consequential loss as a result of delay for items posted using the Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1.00pm service that are delivered between 1.00pm and 9.00pm the next working day during this period.  This includes items where a Saturday guarantee has been purchased.

For items posted from Thursday 19 March 2020 up to Monday 30 March 2020 a guarantee was not offered.  As a result, we will not consider a claim for delay or consequential loss as a result of delay for items posted using the Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1.00pm service during this period.  This includes items where a Saturday guarantee has been purchased.

*existing postcode exceptions apply

All Signature services

We’ve put in place a temporary procedure for those services where we would normally capture a recipient’s signature on delivery in the UK. For items delivered on or after Saturday 14th March 2020, our postmen and women will not request a signature but will capture the recipient’s name and will ensure they take in the item. You can still check that we have obtained confirmation of delivery and who we delivered to by tracking your parcel at www.royalmail.com/track-your-item (where you may see a special code, ‘XP1’ instead of signature).  As a result, we will not consider refunds or compensation requests for not capturing a signature for items delivered on or after Saturday 14 March 2020 and until further notice.

Want to keep up-to-date with Royal Mail daily collection and delivery services? Simply visit royalmail.com/serviceupdates, where you can also sign up to receive email alerts about service-affecting issues in your area.

 
The Door to Door Terms and Conditions consist of: 

• Terms and Conditions documentpdf, 666.58 KB
• User Guidepdf, 5.64 MB
• Rate Card

We have revised our Terms and Conditions to make them simpler to understand and reorganised the location of some sections to better reflect the layout of other Royal Mail product documents:

1. Our Cancellation Charges can now be found in our Rate Card
2. Our Repackaging (previously known as “Rework”) Policy and Fees can also be found in the Rate Card – the fees from 1st April 2020 our rates will be £75 for the first hour, and £50 for each subsequent hour
3. Our User Guide provides improved explanations of how Door to Door works and how to prepare contracts for handover, along with a checklist for new and existing customers to follow
4. Updated schedules relating to our Boundary Match, Collection and Handover, and Heavyweight item services, and to our discretionary Late Booking offer
5. Updated wording regarding customers’ and agents’ responsibilities when booking contracts, to:  
   • Book under the correct category item code
   • Book only items of a single weight and for a single brand
   • Provide a sample item for review
   • If an agent, state the identity of the client/brand they are booking on behalf of

The revised Standard Terms and Conditions document, the User Guide and the Rate Card will take effect on 1st April 2020.

 
We have updated our terms and conditions to provide us with the flexibility we need in order to continue to provide services to our customers and communities in exceptional circumstances, or where in our reasonable opinion, there is a material risk to the health and safety of our staff or of our customers.

Royal Mail General Terms and Conditionspdf, 468.64 KB

Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am Terms and Conditionspdf, 346.69 KB

Specific Terms for Non-Account Tracked 24 and Tracked 48pdf, 248.77 KB

International Tracked & Signed service to Canada is moving to the International Signed service

From 23 March 2020, we are substituting our International Tracked & Signed service to Canada with the International Signed service. Customers wishing to see end to end tracking can use our International Tracked service and those wishing to use a signed for service can opt for our International Signed service. We are making this change due to an insufficient level of tracking by our Canadian partners on the International Tracked & Signed service.
 

STL/BPL Letter and Large Letter changes

In 2017 we introduced a new billing platform to automate billing. If you’re still using product codes STL and BPL on your Online Business Accounting (OBA) Sales Order for Letters and Large Letters you should now use barcoded envelopes and the new account product codes UNA/UNB and UNG/UNH respectively. From 1 April 2020, the STL and BPL product codes should cease to be used via OBA Sales Orders for letter and large letter postings. STL/BPL will continue to be available for use via shipping solutions and parcel postings via OBA Sales Orders upon request.

Q. What should I do if I want to continue to post STL/BPL parcels via an OBA Sales Order? 

A. Please write to us at BarcodeUnsortedAccountMail@royalmail.com providing your contact details, company name, account number stating you want to continue to post STL/BPL parcels via an OBA Sales Order.
 

Response Service changes

The maximum thickness for Business Reply Standard, Freepost Standard and Freepost NAME large letters will change from 50mm to 25mm with effect from 5 October 2020. 

If you have difficulties implementing this change please contact us either by: 

Email: response.services@royalmail.com

or write to us: 

Business Response
Royal Mail
Dearne House
Cortonwood Business Park
Brampton
Barnsley
S73 0UF
 

Making it clearer which payment channels qualify for a free weekday business collection

From 23 March 2020, we’re making it clearer which postage payment channels you must use to qualify for a free weekday business collection. 

If you pay for postage via an Online Business Account or a Franking machine and spend the required amount, you may qualify for a free weekday business collection. 

• £15,000 (excluding VAT) if you signed your agreement before 25 March 2019; and 
• £16,500 (excluding VAT) if you signed your agreement on or after 25 March 2019

More information is available in our existing* Terms and Conditions, which can be found herepdf, 180.3 KB.

*These Terms and Conditions will be updated on 23 March 2020

International Services

Preparing your international items

Items containing goods must display an S10 barcode and CN22/CN23 customs form where appropriate. If completing the customs form by hand, we recommend you use block capitals, so it can be read by our machines as some countries are applying penalties, delaying or returning items in the absence of the required information. Further information can be found at royalmail.com/customs
 

Parcels

Changes to Surcharges for parcels customers

From 2 January 2020, we will introduce clearer Surcharge rates and standard rework fees across our network that we may start to apply for incorrectly presented items and documentation. For more information go to royalmail.com/surcharges

General

We’re changing the definition of ‘valuables’ in our General Terms & Conditions

From 2 January 2020, what we define as ‘Valuables’ in our General Terms & Conditions is changing.

Contents defined as valuable can only be sent using our Special Delivery Guaranteed products.

Please ensure you check the updated list as it remains the senders responsibility to ensure the correct products are used.

• What are defined as ‘Valuables’pdf, 284.05 KB

To view our General Terms & Conditions in full, click herepdf, 468.64 KB

Parcels

Autobilling is now the new default for all Mailmark customers

Autobilling will be the default billing setting for all new Mailmark participants and Mailmark supply chains. Autobilling relaunched in November 2018 and many customers have been successfully set up to use this now. With Autobilling, customers only need to fill in the eManifest – there is no need to complete a Sales Order for each Mailmark posting.

Now you have a choice of where to print the Account Barcode

Customers now have more choice of where they print the barcode for items they send using the UNA, UNB, UNC, UNG and UNH product. You can print the barcode on the top right of the envelope or on the mail piece itself so that it appears in the window.

We are ceasing to sell the OCR product variant

As part of our ongoing commitment to providing a high quality of service at a low cost, the retail Optical Character Recognition (OCR) product variant for retail unsorted and sorted products will be withdrawn from 1 October 2019. Customers who currently have the OCR product codes on their account will be able to continue to use them. This change will increase the use of barcode products to support efficient processing of mail and automated billing.

Discontinuation of the orange flash label (P6041)

We’re discontinuing the orange flash label (P6041) and removing the need for customers to apply it when using Royal Mail Signed For as an add-on to Royal Mail 24 and 48. This should help to save valuable time in parcel preparation. We are removing the need to use the orange label from our Terms & Conditions on 30 September 2019.

Important information about providing pre-advice

Timely provision of accurate pre-advice is needed to avoid you and your customers receiving a poor experience. As a reminder, when using a product that needs a pre-advice submission, it must list each item in the posting, its weight, if it requires a signature, SMS or email notification requests and other relevant delivery instructions, as well as any information which we may reasonably request from you. We need your pre-advice before your last shipment’s collection. If we receive items with no, inaccurate or late pre-advice, we may (at our discretion) either accept them or, return them to you. In either instance we may also recover from you the relevant surcharge and, or postage.

International services

We have increased the destinations for International Tracked service

We have added Czech Republic and Taiwan to our International Tracked service (no signature required). Customers can now choose between an International Tracked or a Tracked with Signature option. This service is available on our Shipping Solutions.

We have increased the weight to some destinations on International Tracked service

We have increased the weight to 5 kgs on our International Tracked service to Austria, Israel, Taiwan and Thailand and on our Royal Mail Tracked and Signed service to Thailand. This is available on our Shipping Solutions.

Australia have added a fourth gateway

As a result of Brisbane being added as an additional entry point into Australia, we will be updating our Max Sort and Print Direct sortation list. This will be available to use in October. Please ensure you consult our latest sortation list and sort as indicated to avoid any unnecessary delays.

International e-commerce customers can offer our Tracked Returns Service

By the end of the year, our UK e-commerce customers will have the opportunity to provide their consumers / buyers with an International Tracked Returns service from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and USA.

Automated international delivery notifications

Automated international delivery notifications are now available for you to use. For more details please consult our website here.

Letters

STL/BPL Letter and Large Letter changes

In 2017 we introduced a new billing platform to automate billing. If you’re still using product codes STL and BPL on your Online Business Accounting (OBA) Sales Order for Letters and Large Letters you should now use barcoded envelopes and the new account product codes UNA/UNB and UNG/UNH respectively. From 1 April 2020, the STL and BPL product codes should cease to be used via OBA Sales Orders. STL/BPL will continue to be available for use via shipping solutions. For more information please click here.

General

Check latest changes to restricted and prohibited items

To manage criminal liability risk as a result of the changes that are due to the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 (“Act”), there will be a number of changes to our restricted and prohibited contents. These changes will coincide with the enactment of the relevant provisions of the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 relating to the delivery of bladed items.  Once enacted, the bladed items will be prohibited from our network unless they are sent via our Age Verification service, where the item will on delivery only be handed over to a person over the age of 18 years old.

Please note this date has changed from the previously communicated 1 October 2019, and 1 November 2019. This prohibition on the sending of “bladed items” applies to all account customers in respect of all Royal Mail services, including account customers using our VAT exempt First Class, Second Class, Royal Mail Signed For 1st Class, and Royal Mail Signed For 2nd Class services purchased using a credit or prepaid account via an Online Business Account or shipping solution. Please continue to check www.royalmail.com/restricted for the latest information. It remains the sender’s responsibility to ensure contents are compliant.

Parcels

Complete all pre-advice fields for Royal Mail Tracked and Special Delivery Guaranteed services

When sent via a Royal Mail approved shipping solution Tracked and Special Delivery Guaranteed services have access to SMS/email notifications to keep recipients informed of the delivery of their item. To access these notifications, sending customers should ensure that all data fields – such as email address and customer mobile number – are completed fully in the pre-advice.

Letters

MarketReach service simplified

We’re streamlining the number of product codes available to customers with a Business Mail Advanced Account. We’re removing CLA, CLB, CLP and CLQ and replacing these with UNI, UNJ, UNK and UNL from 1 July 2019.

General

Restricted and prohibited items – a reminder

In 2018, we introduced changes to some of our Restricted and Prohibited items. Restricted materials can only be posted within the UK using certain Royal Mail services. For International items, senders should refer to the International Specific Terms and Conditions. Customers should check the items that they send meet the restrictions for Restricted and Prohibited items at royalmail.com/restricted.

Letters

• For franking customers, the Business Mail Advanced service will only be available via a franking machine with Royal Mail Mailmark^® technology

International services

• Requirement to provide electronic Customs Data for items sent overseas from the UK
• We have expanded the number of countries where International Tracked with Signature services are available
• We are making changes to our International Delivery Aims

General services

• We are standardising interest on late payments
• We are making some changes to the packaging for our Account Barcode Unsorted products

Letters

For franking customers, the Business Mail Advanced service will only be available via a franking machine with Royal Mail Mailmark^® technology

From 1 April 2019, the Business Mail Advanced 1st and 2nd Class Letter service will only be available through a franking machine with Royal Mail Mailmark^® technology. This means you will no longer be able to access the service through a Smart franking machine.

If you are already franking your Business Mail Advanced mail through a Royal Mail Mailmark^® franking machine you can simply continue to access the Business Mail Advanced service through your machine.

There is no need for you to submit an online business account sales order with the new service.

Please remind your colleagues that they no longer need to create CLC/CLD sales orders for this service.

Further details can be found in our product user guides at www.royalmailtechnical.com

Please contact your franking machine supplier for information on franking machines with Royal Mail Mailmark^® technology.

These changes take effect from 1 April 2019.

International services

Requirement to provide electronic Customs Data for items sent overseas from the UK

As previously notified since August 2017, you are now required to provide customs data electronically when sending items (excluding items of correspondence) to destinations that are not in the same customs union as the UK.

This requirement came into force on 1 January 2019 and is reflected in our user guides.

This customs data is like the information already required for the CN22 and CN23 customs declarations forms. Please remember that the Universal Postal Union (UPU) requests that these forms are completed accurately and in full to facilitate a rapid customs clearance.

Please be assured that in the event you have not been able to make these changes, you will not be prevented from posting with us and we will continue to work with you to help you meet the requirements. We want to help minimise the risk of items being negatively impacted when they arrive in the destination country.

If you need more help or information please visit www.royalmail.com/international-data, contact your Royal Mail Account Manager or, if you haven’t got a dedicated Account Manager, send a message to us at internationalservice@royalmail.com. If your query relates to shipping platform specifications in particular, contact shippingsupport@royalmail.com so we can work through the options to get you on board with these changes.

A reminder below of information that was already requested before January 1 2019:

1. A fully completed Customs declaration form CN22 or CN23 for items sent outside of the EU, including:

• Sender details: name, address, and, if available, a telephone number
• Recipient details: name, address, destination country and, if available, a telephone number and email address
• Item details in the form of an accurate and concise description of individual goods, quantity and measurements used, weight and value. It is important that each item is shown as a separate line entry Harmonised System (HS) Trade Tariff code in the form of the World Customs Organization Harmonised System tariff code. Royal Mail provides an HS code categorisation service for all your items, please contact your Account Manager or contact us at internationalservice@royalmail.com
• Country of origin of contents, which refers to where the goods were produced or assembled
• Cost of postage paid and – separately specified – other charges such as insurance costs.

2. A Universal Postal Union (UPU) compliant S10 barcode (so the electronic Customs Data can be linked to the exported goods)

3. For tracked export goods, in addition, a 2D tracking barcode

What’s new as of 1 January 2019?

The requirement to provide customs data by attaching a physical Customs declaration form CN22 or CN23 to items (excluding items of correspondence) sent to destinations that are not in the same customs union as the UK, is nothing new. The key change required now is to provide the customs data to us electronically.

Electronic Customs Data is required to ensure that existing, emerging and future legislative, security and customs requirements in overseas destinations are met. Some countries are applying penalties, delaying or returning items in the absence of the required data and we want to help you avoid these issues. For example, China have informed Universal Postal Union (UPU) members that from 30 November 2018, inbound mail items lacking electronic customs data will be delayed by Chinese Customs, whilst the information is sought from recipients. Items may be returned to the sender if this data cannot be obtained.

Brazilian and Russian customs are prioritising postal items with electronic Customs Data: Brazilian customs have said that they may charge recipients additional costs in the absence of electronic Customs Data, whereas Russia has said that items without electronic Customs Data may be returned. Additionally, the United States has passed legislation that will mandate inbound shipments to the USA be accompanied by electronic Customs Data, from the end of 2018.

There are however also real commercial benefits to providing complete and accurate electronic Customs Data. Our experience has shown that customers are receiving fewer complaints, less delays in customs, resulting in faster and more successful deliveries. Dependent on the future trading relationship with the EU, the requirement to provide pre-advice data for items bound for the EU is likely to become mandatory in 2021. We recommend you take steps now to comply.

Information for Franking customers

Royal Mail Account terms and conditions that took effect on 1 January 2019, included a provision for customs data to be supplied electronically. Franking customers will initially be excluded from this requirement when paying via franking machine for international items (excluding general correspondence). In future it will become a requirement for these items to include data and we will offer support to help you provide this before this applies.

For clarity, you already need to add an S10 barcode to any item that carries anything other than general correspondence along with a physical CN22 or CN23 Customs form. This applies to destinations that are not in the same customs union as the UK.

We understand it can be difficult for franking customers to comply with the S10 requirement at present and we are developing plans to make this easier for you.

We have expanded the number of countries where International Tracked with Signature services are available

China and Jordan move from being International Signed destinations to International Tracked & Signed.

This means our customers now have a fully tracked service available to these countries.

These changes take effect from 25 March 2019.

We are making changes to our International Delivery Aims

We have reviewed our delivery data in relation to arrival of items sent overseas.

To more closely reflect the international delivery times being achieved by overseas postal authorities we are refreshing our delivery aims as set out in the table below.

These refreshed delivery aims will be reflected in our updated User Guides being published on 25 March 2019.

*Applies to Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden, Austria and Luxembourg

General services

We are standardising interest on late payments

We are changing our terms on late payments to align with Government guidelines.

If you do not make any payment on time then we reserve the right to apply any of the following (at our discretion):

• charge the statutory rate of interest (calculated at an annual rate of 8% above the Bank of England base rate (previously it was 4%)) on the outstanding amount
• charge a fee for each late payment event, the amount of which will be dependent on the value of the debt (in accordance with government guidelines); and
• charge reasonable costs incurred by us in recovering the debt:

7.13 If you do not pay an invoice, we may (at our sole discretion) charge you any of the following costs:

(a) ask a debt-collection agency to collect the payment on our behalf. If we do this, you must pay us an extra amount. This will not be more than the reasonable costs we have to pay to the agency, who will add the amount to your debt on our behalf. This term applies even if this Agreement has ended; and/or

(b) any of the following amounts depending on the unpaid amount (these amounts are consistent with HMRC guidance):
-Up to £999.99
- £40
- £1,000 to £9,999.99
- £70
- £10,000 or more
- £100

These changes will take effect for Parcels and Letters Products from 1 April 2019, with the exception of Door to Door, where these changes will take effect from 1 July 2019.

We are making some changes to the packaging for our Account Barcode Unsorted products

We are introducing additional packaging options.

Items can now be posted in polymer packaging, and polywrap can also be used provided the specifications are met. Please note:

• Jiffy bags cannot be used when sending items by the Account Barcode Unsorted Products
• Fulfilment items cannot be sent by Account Barcode Unsorted Products.

Further details can be found in our product user guides.

To view the product guides go to www.royalmailtechnical.com

These changes take effect from 25 March 2019.

International services

• From 1 January 2019, you will be required to provide more electronic data

General services

• Reminder: Freepost Standard Handwritten was withdrawn on 30 March 2015
• Correctly presenting your Account Mail (PPI) at Post Office® branches or Royal Mail service points
• For franking customers Business Mail Advanced will only be available via Royal Mail Mailmark® franking machines
• We are adding a new provision for you if you choose to use a Third-Party Integrator (TPI) to generate your parcel shipments
• We are making changes to TUPE – protection against employees who transfer over to us from either our customers or our customer’s existing postal services suppliers when we start to provide the services

International services

From 1 January 2019, you will be required to provide more electronic data when sending items overseas from the UK

As previously notified since August last year, from 1 January 2019, you will be required to provide customs data electronically when sending items to destinations that are not in the same customs union as the UK (excluding items of correspondence). This customs data is like the information you already provide on the CN22 and CN23 customs declarations forms. Please remember that the Universal Postal Union (UPU) requests that these are completed accurately and in full, to facilitate a rapid clearance.

Please be assured that in the event you are not able to make these changes, you will not be prevented from posting with us and we will continue to work with you to help you be able to meet the requirements. Please contact your Royal Mail Account Manager, Shipping Support or visit the International Data website (details in the last paragraph) if you are in any way concerned about this change, so we can work through the options to get you on board with these changes.

If you are a customer using a franking machine to send items abroad please see for more detail below.

Electronic Customs Data is required to make sure that emerging and future legislative, security and customs requirements in overseas destinations are met. Some countries are considering applying penalties, delaying or returning items in the absence of the required data and we want to help you avoid these. For example, the United States have just passed legislation that will mandate inbound shipments to the USA to be accompanied by electronic customs data, from the end of 2018.

There are however also real benefits to providing complete and accurate electronic customs data as we have seen that customers are receiving fewer complaints, less delays in customs, resulting in faster and more successful deliveries as a result. Over time, you will also be able to access new delivery features, such as enhanced tracking and delivery choice. The provision of electronic data will also be important if the UK leaves the EU customs union under Brexit changes. We will be communicating soon on our Brexit preparations to ensure our networks keep flowing freely post Brexit.

The requirement to provide customs data by attaching a physical Customs declaration form CN22 (pdf, 394.05 KB) or CN23 (pdf, 227.98 KB) to items you're sending outside the EU is nothing new. What is new is that you'll now need to provide the customs data to us electronically.

Information you are already requested to provide:

• A fully completed Customs declaration form CN22 (pdf, 394.05 KB) or CN23 (pdf, 227.98 KB) for items sent outside of the EU, including:

- Sender details (name, address, and if available, telephone number)

- Recipient details (name, address including destination country, and if available, telephone number and email)

- Item details (it is absolutely critical to provide an accurate and concise description of goods, quantity, weight and value – with each commodity shown as a separate line entry; get help classifying your goods)

- Harmonised System (HS) Trade Tariff code (enter the World Customs Organization Harmonised System tariff code and country of origin of contents, which refers to where the goods were produced or assembled

- Provide the amount of postage paid and separately specify other charges such as insurance costs

• A Universal Postal Union (UPU) compliant S10 barcode so the electronic customs data can be linked to the exported goods
• For tracked export goods, in addition a 2D barcode

What’s new as of 1 January 2019

The data you are already requested to provide will now also need to be provided electronically in your pre-advice

To help you comply with these requirements, we have updated our Click & Drop and Net Despatch shipping systems, as well as our specifications for your own shipping solutions (COSS), shipping APIs and external shipping platforms.

We hope you are making good progress but if you need more help or information, visit www.royalmail.com/international-data or contact your Royal Mail Account Manager or, if your query relates to shipping platform specifications in particular, contact shippingsupport@royalmail.com

Information for Franking customers

The changes to the Account terms and conditions that take effect on 1 January 2019 ask for customs data to be provided electronically. These requirements do not currently affect international items paid for by a franking machine, as franking customers are not bound by the Account terms and conditions. However, the need to gather data is still important and we will be in touch with you in 2019 to advise how we can receive this data from you.

For clarity, the need to add a S10 barcode to any item that carries anything other than general correspondence is a requirement today along with a CN 22/23 Customs form. We understand that it can be difficult for franking customers to comply with the S10 requirement at present and we are developing plans to make this easy for you. In the meantime please be assured that there are no negative consequences for items sent without an S10.

More information will be provided to franking users in 2019.

General services

Reminder: Freepost Standard Handwritten was withdrawn on 30 March 2015

Some customers are still promoting and receiving handwritten Freepost Standard items.

This is a reminder that Freepost Standard Handwritten was withdrawn for Letters and Large Letters from 30 March 2015.

The withdrawal was communicated in the December 2014 Terms and Conditions communication.

All Freepost Standard Letter and Large Letter items should have a machine printed address, licence number, licence barcode and indicia. If you would like to provide a handwritten response for your customers please use Freepost NAME which is easier for respondents to use.

Respondents only need to write “Freepost NAME” (e.g. “Freepost MARKETREACH”) on the envelope rather than the Freepost licence number and full postal address that were previously required for Freepost Standard Handwritten.

For further details please visit: www.royalmail.com/freepostname

Correctly Presenting your Account Mail (PPI) at Post Office® Branches or Royal Mail Customer Service Points

To safeguard your mail and to make sure it is accepted, we respectfully remind you to personally handover Account Mail to a member of the Post Office® branch or Royal Mail team.

You must also handover relevant documentation including your confirmed Sales Order* separately as Post Offices and Royal Mail Customer Service Points will now scan all Sales Orders presented with Account Mail.

To help you present your mail correctly so we can process it quickly and efficiently please visit: www.royalmail.com/presentingmail Here you will find more information including useful ‘how to’ videos.

*Online Business Account (OBA), Sales Order, Click and Drop Sales Order or Customer Own System Solutions (COSS) Sales Order.

For franking Customers Business Mail Advanced will only be available via Royal Mail Mailmark® franking machines

From 1 April 2019, the Business Mail Advanced 1st and 2nd Class letter service will only be available through Royal Mail Mailmark® franking machines. This means that you will no longer be able to access the service through a Smart franking machine.

If you are already franking your Business Mail Advanced mail through a Royal Mail Mailmark® franking machine you simply continue to access the Business Mail Advanced service through your franking machine.

You do not need to take any action. As a reminder, there is no need for you to submit an online business account sales order with the new service.

Please do remind your colleagues that they no longer need to create CLC/CLD sales orders for this service.

It is easier for franking customers to access and use Business Mail Advanced via Mailmark. The presence of the Mailmark barcode on your mail pieces will ensure your mail is read quickly by our automation machines and continues onto delivery without delay.

To view the full specification in the Business Mail Advanced product guide please visit:
www.royalmailtechnical.com/User_Guide.cfm

The change takes effect from 1 April 2019.

We are adding a new provision for you if you choose to use a Third-Party Integrator (TPI) to generate your parcel shipments

We have included a new provision for customers who choose to use a Third-Party Integrator (TPI) to generate parcel shipments, including barcoded label generation and the provision of electronic pre-advice details.

Whilst we recommend that customers use one of our free Royal Mail Shipping Solutions, further details of which can be found at: www.royalmail.com/parcelshippingsolutions where customers choose to use a TPI, we recommend that they work with a Royal Mail approved TPI, who has agreed to meet our standards.

A list of approved TPIs can be found at: www.royalmail.com/business/services/shipping/third-party-partners

Should customers choose to work with a non-Royal Mail approved TPI, Royal Mail will not accept liability for any action, or lack of action of the TPI which impacts our ability to provide any aspect of our service to you.

This change will come into force from 1 January 2019.

We are making changes to TUPE – protection against employees who transfer over to us from either our customers or our customer’s existing postal services suppliers when we start to provide the services

We are introducing a new clause to our Terms and Conditions which confirms that we don’t expect TUPE regulations to apply at the start of our relationship with you.

We do not expect that any of your employees or, if you have an existing postal services provider, then any of their employees will transfer over to us and effectively become our employees once we start to provide the services.

In the unlikely event that TUPE does apply and in line with market standards then we will require new customers to compensate us for any costs which we incur as a result.

This change will only affect new customers and will come into force from 1 January 2019.

Parcel services

• We will be changing some of our parcel product codes and parcel prices on 8 October 2018

International services

• You will be required to provide more electronic information when sending parcels abroad from the UK

General services

• We are introducing a national collection to the existing Poll Card Mailing Option
• A reminder: change to Section 9 of our Unconfirmed Sales Order Policy affecting Online Business Account (OBA) customers

Parcel services

We will be changing some of our parcel product codes and parcel prices on 8 October 2018

We will be increasing the price of non-barcoded parcels sent using the new SU1 and SU2 product codes by 2p.

This will apply across all weight bands for the parcel format.

We will not be making any changes to the barcoded Royal Mail 24® and Royal Mail 48® services.

If you are not currently barcoding your parcels and want to find out more about how to do this please visit royalmail.com/parcel-shipping-solutions

For more information visit royalmail.com/newproductcodes

More information royalmail.com/terms-and-conditions

International services

From 1 January 2019, you will be required to provide more electronic information when sending parcels abroad from the UK

In May we updated our Terms and Conditions for posting parcels overseas. From 1 January 2019, you will be required to provide electronic pre-advice data about the sender, the recipient and the items you are posting. You will also need to apply an S10 1D barcode.

This is to ensure that legislative, security and customs requirements in the receiving countries are met. Some countries apply penalties or delay items in the absence of the required data. For example the United States is considering reserving the right to refuse items without it.

Over time, this move to electronic pre-advice will also enable you to access new delivery features, such as enhanced tracking and delivery choice, as well as a smoother customs process.

During the last year, we have been in dialogue with our customers to find an achievable date from which to make the electronic pre-advice a formal requirement.

After a consultation process and extensive discussions, and in order to provide you with sufficient time to prepare, we have set the implementation date at 1 January 2019.

To help you comply with these requirements, we have updated our shipping systems, as well as our specifications for your own shipping solutions (COSS), shipping APIs and external shipping platforms.

This is to ensure that the fields are available for you to provide the required pre-advice information as well as to produce the required S10 1D barcode.

We hope you are making good progress but if you need more help or information, visit royalmail.com/international-data

More information royalmail.com/terms-and-conditions

General services

We are introducing a national collection to the existing Poll Card Mailing Option

We are introducing a national collection to the existing Poll Card Mailing Option, so mail produced anywhere in the UK can be collected and taken to the relevant drop off point(s).

For further details and pricing about this option, please see the rate card and user guide at royalmailtechnical.com/User_Guide.cfm

Changes take effect from 1 October 2018.

More information: royalmail.com/terms-and-conditions

A reminder: change to Section 9 of our Unconfirmed Sales Order Policy affecting OBA Customers

Where an order has been raised and not confirmed, we reserve the right to either:

• delete such sales orders without notification; or
• acting faithfully and using our judgement, correct and/or complete certain details so we can process that sales order without further recourse to you.

Where a continuity sales order is placed and we believe it contains errors and/or omissions, we may at our sole discretion either:

• contact you to confirm certain details and then process that continuity sales order; or
• acting faithfully and using our judgement, correct and/or complete certain details so we can process that continuity sales order without further recourse to you.

For more information visit royalmail.com/online-business-account-oba/terms-and-conditions

Changes took effect on 23 July 2018.

More information: royalmail.com/terms-and-conditions

Parcel services

• We are introducing new product codes for non-barcoded Royal Mail 24^® and Royal Mail 48^® services
• It will not be possible to raise sales orders in OBA against the old product codes after 30 June 2018
• We are making some changes to some of the postcode area exceptions for our Royal Mail Special Delivery and Tracked services

International services

• You will be required to provide more electronic information when sending parcels abroad from the UK
• We are making changes to the International Business Tracked compensation level for electrical devices from £50 to £100
• We are making changes to our parcel weight limit for items sent by International Business Tracked with signature to certain countries

General services

• We have made some changes to our General Terms & Conditions

Parcel services

We are introducing new product codes for non-barcoded Royal Mail 24^® and Royal Mail 48^® services

To more easily differentiate between the barcoded service which offers online Delivery confirmation, and the legacy service which does not support online Delivery Confirmation, we will be introducing new product codes for the non-barcoded Royal Mail 24^® and Royal Mail 48^® services.

You will not need to do anything if you currently use a Royal Mail Parcel Shipping Solution, such as Click & Drop, Royal Mail API Shipping, or a third party provider which produces barcoded labels and automatically generates a sales order in OBA to send your items.

If you do not use any of the above but instead create a manual sales order in OBA (Online Business Account), then you will need to use a new product code which will be automatically added to your OBA account.

The new product codes will be available to use in OBA from 30 May 2018. Ideally, you should start using them as soon as they’re available. It will not be possible to raise sales orders in OBA against the old product codes after 30 June 2018.

However, we recognise that not everyone will be able to make the change immediately so the old product codes will be available to use in OBA until 30 June 2018 – however after this date they will be removed.

The new codes are:

Please speak to your Royal Mail account manager, or visit royalmail.com/newproductcodes to find out more.

The new codes will be available from 30 May 2018.

We are making some changes to some of the postcode area exceptions for our Royal Mail Special Delivery and Tracked services

After a review of our network we are updating the postcode area exceptions for our Tracked 24 and Tracked 48 delivery aims.

The revised exceptions can be found in the Parcel User Guide.

We’re also updating the postcode area exceptions for Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed 9am and 1pm including Saturday deliveries for Guernsey, Jersey and Isle of Man.

Special Delivery is delivered to these destinations by the relevant postal authorities for each of the islands. The update is to reflect their current network’s ability.

The revised exceptions can be found in the Royal Mail Parcels User Guide (pdf, 5.83 MB)

International services

You will be required to provide more electronic information when sending parcels abroad from the UK

As we have mentioned in previous communications, if you are posting parcels overseas, you will soon be required to provide electronic pre-advice data about the sender, the recipient and the items that you are posting. You will also need to apply an S10 1D barcode.

This is to ensure that legislative, security and customs requirements in the receiving countries are met. Some countries apply penalties or cause delays in the absence of the required data. The United States for example is considering reserving the right to refuse items without it.

Over time, this move to electronic pre-advice will also enable you to benefit from new delivery features, such as enhanced tracking and delivery choice, as well as a smoother customs process.

Over the last year, we have been in dialogue with our customers to find an achievable date from which to make the electronic pre-advice a formal requirement.

After a consultation process and extensive discussions, and in order to provide you with sufficient time to prepare, we have set the implementation date at 1 January 2019.

To help you comply with these requirements, we are updating our shipping systems, as well as our specifications for your own shipping solutions (COSS), shipping APIs and external shipping platforms, to ensure that the fields are available for you on time to provide the required pre-advice information as well as to produce the required S10 1D barcode.

For more information, additional resources, regular updates and time lines visit
royalmail.com/international-data

We are making changes to the International Business Tracked compensation level for electrical devices from £50 to £100

This affects:

• Mobile phones
• Digital cameras
• DVD players
• MP3 players
• Laptops

We will be removing the compensation cap of £50 for electrical devices and applying our standard levels of compensation in the event of loss or damage.

This applies to our International Business Tracked service which includes the ‘with signature’ option.

This means all ‘goods’ items will carry the same level of compensation.

In addition, you will be able purchase additional compensation cover up to £300 for these types of items.

Our International Business Parcels User Guide (pdf, 6.56 MB) has been updated to reflect this change and is available to download.

royalmail.com/internationalbusinessparcels

Changes take effect from: immediately

We are making changes to our parcel weight limit for items sent by International Business Tracked with signature to certain countries

We are increasing the weight limit for non-printed material so you can now post parcels with any content up to 5kgs via our International Business Tracked with signature service.

This change is applicable to the following countries:

• Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic
• Germany, Greece, Hungary
• Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal
• Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia

For all other destinations and international services the restriction for items containing printed matter weighing above 2kgs remains.

International Business Parcels User Guidepdf, 6.56 MB

royalmail.com/internationalbusinessparcels

Effective from: immediately

General services

We have made some changes to our General Terms & Conditions

We have removed the mutual indemnity provided to and from ourselves and you for a breach of Data Protection Legislation.

We believe that this change is appropriate in the context of the application of the General Data Protection Regulation as from 25 May 2018.

There is still a mutual obligation on both parties to adhere to all Data Protection Legislation.

Further details relating to our data protection obligations can be found in Clause 8 of our General Terms & Conditions at royalmail.com/terms-and-conditions

Effective from: immediately

Door to Door Terms and Conditions 2018

A guide to the key amendments

Whilst not making substantive changes to the terms currently in place for the Door to Door service, we have updated the standard Door to Door Terms and Conditions to make them more user-friendly for the benefit of our customers. The main changes can be summarised as providing clarity in relation to the following areas:

• confirmation that each agreement will last for a maximum of 13 weeks from the date of the first delivery
• provisions explaining that customers are responsible for selecting the correct item category code and confirming the action that Royal Mail may take should the wrong code be selected
• provisions clarifying the requirement to provide samples of the items that customers wish to deliver
• clarifying what we consider to be an “acceptable item” for the purposes of the Door to Door service, including provisions regarding the use and visibility of postal addresses, "Business Reply" and "Freepost" addresses on items
• clarifying provisions relating to the delivery of heavyweight items – those over 250g in weight – and their relationship with our non-competing item policy
• clarifying our right to refuse to accept or deliver items, change the delivery schedule, charge cancellation fees and terminate all or part of the agreement if an item does not conform with the requirements set out in the Door to Door Terms and Conditions
• clarifying provisions relating to the delivery of items in postcode sectors where some delivery walks cross through more than one postcode sector
• explaining how we determine postcode sectors for the purposes of a Door to Door distribution
• clarifying the rules regarding a “New User” for the purposes of the Door to Door service
• clarifying the use of our branding including guidelines and examples of acceptable use
• clarifying how we will use Door to Door information for the purposes of improving advertiser insight into the use of door drops

The new Door to Door Terms and Conditions will come into effect on 1 May 2018.

Door to Door terms and conditionspdf, 367.3 KB - effective 1 May 2018

Letter services

• We are simplifying collection of underpayments for customers using franking machines with Royal Mail Mailmark^® technology
• Surcharges for Franking Business Mail Advanced

Parcel services

• Delivery Confirmation for Royal Mail 24^® and Royal Mail 48^® Large Letter format
• Estimated Delivery Window

International services

• We will require more electronic information when you are sending parcels abroad from the UK
• We will be changing our bag labels for our International Business and International on Account services

General services

• We are introducing a new mail piece specification for posting polling cards
• We are making some changes to our General Terms and Conditions
• As a reminder, we have changed the way account (PPI) mail is presented at Post Office® branches
   

Letter services

We are simplifying collection of underpayments for customers using franking machines with Royal Mail Mailmark^® technology

If you have a franking machine that uses Mailmark technology, and you make a mistake when franking your mail, we have simplified the way the underpayment amount will be collected.

The underpayment amount plus a reduced surcharge fee will now be automatically collected by your franking machine manufacturer. Full information will now be shown on your invoice.

This new simplified collection process means we have been able to reduce the admin fee. For Mailmark franking customers, the admin fee on both domestic and international charges has been reduced to a flat fee of 15p per item.

This change is only going live to a limited number of Mailmark franking customers initially (for all other Mailmark franking and franking customers the administration fee remains the same). Full rollout will follow a gradual phased approach, with most Mailmark franking machines migrated to this process over the 18/19 financial year.

More information about this change will be available soon on royalmail.com/franking

Rollout for some Mailmark franking customers from 19 March 2018

More information royalmailtechnical.com

 
Surcharges for Franking Business Mail Advanced

Franking Business Mail Advanced postings made without the Mailmark barcode will be charged a monthly fee of £25.00.

The charge will apply if you are using either the CLC or CLD product codes via Royal Mail’s Online Business Account Sales Orders.

It is easier for franking customers to access and use Business Mail Advanced via Mailmark.

The presence of the Mailmark barcode on your mail pieces will ensure your mail is read quickly by our automation machines and continues onto delivery without delay.

To view the full specification in the Business Mail Advanced product guide please visit royalmailtechnical.com/User_Guide.cfm

Changes take effect from 3 April 2018
 

Parcel services

Delivery Confirmation for Royal Mail 24 and Royal Mail 48 Large Letter format

We have recently enabled Delivery Confirmation on Large Letter format for customers who use Royal Mail 24^® and Royal Mail 48^® posted through all parcel shipping systems except DMO.

Customers currently accessing Royal Mail 24^® and Royal Mail 48^® through DMO can benefit from Delivery Confirmation on Large Letters by switching to Click & Drop.

Customers who are not yet producing barcoded labels should switch to Click & Drop where they can benefit from Delivery Confirmation on the Large Letters and parcels they send.

To learn more about Click & Drop and to switch please visit royalmail.com/click

 
Estimated Delivery Window

We are introducing a new feature for our Royal Mail Tracked 24^® and Royal Mail Tracked 48^® products. Customers using this feature will be provided with an estimated four hour delivery window where available.
 

International services

We will require more electronic information when you are sending parcels abroad from the UK

Stay ahead of the customs curve with our new electronic pre-advice.

Over time, if you are posting parcels overseas, you will be required to provide a little more information about the sender, the receiver and the items that you are posting.

This is to ensure that additional security and legislative requirements in the receiving countries are met.

It will also help us provide enhanced tracking and notification services when you are posting items from the UK overseas in the future.

To help you comply with these new requirements, we have updated our shipping system Click & Drop^®, as well as our specifications for APIs and external platforms, to ensure that the fields are available for you to provide the required information.

If you are using Despatch Manager Online (DMO), we recommend you migrate to Click & Drop® as this system is much easier to use and is already 'Customs-ready'. For more information on how to switch, please contact your Account Manager, call 0345 266 6615 or visit royalmail.com/registernow

We will also provide information and resources on our dedicated website.

Our International bag labels will be changing to improve the processing of your mail and parcels

The functionality of these new labels remains the same however the design has been changed.

You can continue to use your existing stocks of bag labels and when you next re-order you will receive the new designs.

The services affected by this change are:

• International Business Mail
• International Business Parcels
• International Standard On Account
• International Economy On Account
• International tracking and signature services on Account

Please note: Max Sort and Print Direct bag labels are not affected by this change.

Changes take effect from 1 April 2018

Our New Bag Label Designs (pdf, 370.02 KB)

For more information please see our user guides:

• International Business Mail user guide (pdf, 4.19 MB)
• International Business Parcels user guide (pdf, 6.56 MB)

General services

We are introducing a new mail piece specification for posting Polling Cards

We are introducing a new mail piece specification for posting Polling Cards to be used via Royal Mail Mailmark^®. At the same time we are reducing the price of the existing Poll Card Mailing Option to 23.029p for mail taken to the designated drop off point or 23.329p for items collected by Royal Mail.

Polling Cards can continue to be posted by Business Mail, OCR, CBC, Advanced, STL variants or the Account Business Mail product until 31 May 2018.

For further details on the Poll Card Mailing Option and the new mail piece specification for posting polling cards via Mailmark please see the Poll Card Mailing Option User Guide or Mailmark Machine Readable Letters and Large Letters User Guide.

Visit royalmailtechnical.com/User_Guide.cfm

These changes take effect from 26 March 2018

 
Early Notice of further Polling Card changes

From June Polling Cards can only be posted through either Business Mail using the Mailmark product with the new mail piece specification or through the Poll Card Mailing Option.

Polling Cards will not be able to be posted by Business Mail, OCR, CBC, Advanced, STL variants or the Account Business Mail product variants.

For further details on the new mail piece specification for posting Polling Cards via Mailmark and the Polling Cards Mailing Option please see the Mailmark Machine Readable Letters and Large Letters User Guide. Please visit royalmailtechnical.com/User_Guide.cfm

Changes take effect from 1 June 2018

 
We are making some changes to our General Terms and Conditions to make it easier for you

These changes are summarised below:

• We have introduced the right to recover costs which we incur as a result of providing you with additional resources which you ask us to provide but which you do not ultimately use
• We have strengthened our mutual rights to terminate the agreement in the event that either party is likely to become bankrupt, unable to pay its debts etc.
• We have updated our Terms and Conditions to make clear that Royal Mail consumables which are provided free of charge must only be used in relation to Royal Mail products
• We have made certain minor amendments to provide clarity

For full details and our General Terms and Conditions please visit royalmail.com/terms-and-conditions

• General Terms and Conditions (pdf, 468.64 KB)
• Specific Terms for Parcels (pdf, 186.12 KB)
• Specific Terms for International Business Services (pdf, 123.21 KB)

As a reminder, we have changed the way Account Mail (PPI) is presented at Post Office^® branches

The way you present your Account Mail (PPI) items at Post Office® branches and Royal Mail acceptance points has changed.

For the safety and security of your mail, we ask that you personally handover your mail to a member of the Post Office^® branch or Royal Mail team. Separately, you must also handover the relevant documentation.

Documentation should include your Online Business Account (OBA) Sales Order and other relevant documentation.

For further information on presenting your mail, please visit royalmail.com/presentingmail
 

Letter services

• The fee for incorrect licences for our Business Mail Advanced on Account and Response Service products has changed from £25.00 per licence per month to 31p per item
• As a reminder, when you are using our Royal Mail Mailmark® option you need to give us a timely and accurate e-manifest which details each mailing

International services

• We will require more electronic information when you are sending parcels abroad from the UK
• We will be making two changes to our Max Sort service requirements
• Expansion of our Tracked destinations from 22 January 2018

General services

• We have consolidated and streamlined our Terms and Conditions documents to remove duplication and to make them clearer for you to understand
• During 2018 we will be offering a range of alternative shipping solutions to Despatch Manager Online (DMO) users before withdrawing our support for DMO

Letter services

The fee for incorrect licences for our Business Mail Advanced on Account and Response Service products has changed from £25.00 per licence per month to 31p per item

A 12 alpha character licence number and corresponding licence barcode should be present, as detailed in our user guides, on all:

• Response Services:
• Business Reply Standard Letters and Large Letters
• Freepost Standard Letters and Large Letters
• Business Reply Plus and Freepost Plus Letters

This has been a requirement since November 2013.

If the licence number and barcode are not present and correct, a fee will be charged. This fee is changing from £25.00 per licence per month to 31p per item for the products itemised above.

This change will align the fee for Business Mail Advanced with the current Bulk Surcharge fee for unsorted mail and use the existing item based Response Specification fee.

The presence of the correct 12 alpha character licence and licence barcode on your mail items will ensure your mail is read quickly by our automation machines and continue onto delivery without delay, meaning you will benefit from the lowest prices and the best service for your mail.

View the current price guide here

To view the full specification in the Business Mail Advanced product guide, please visit: royalmail.com/advanceguide

To view the full specification in Response Services product guide, please visit: royalmail.com/responseguide

Changes take effect from 2 January 2018

As a reminder, when you are using our Mailmark option you need to give us a timely and accurate e-manifest which details each mailing

We are changing our approach to unmanifested Mailmark items.

As a reminder, customers using our Mailmark option need to give us a timely and accurate e-manifest, which details each mailing.

This is vital for the Mailmark system to work properly and provide full reporting benefits.

A Mailmark mail piece is unmanifested if it is tracked in Royal Mail’s automation but no corresponding item level entry in an eManifest is received within 5 working days of the track event.

From 1 January 2018, we will follow a new remedial process that we hope will encourage those responsible for creating and submitting an eManifest to design their processes to minimise the volume of unmanifested mail.

There will be a tolerance of up to 499 unmanifested items per Supply Chain ID per day.

When we see 500-6,000 items we will charge a flat fee of £25.40.

When we see more than 6,000 items we will charge 0.45p per item for Letters and 0.71p per item for Large Letters.

Effective from 2 January 2018

More information: royalmailtechnical.com

International services

We will require more electronic information when you are sending parcels abroad from the UK

Stay ahead of the customs curve with our new electronic pre-advice.

Over time, if you are posting parcels overseas, you will be required to provide a little more information about the sender, the receiver and the items that you are posting.

This is to ensure that additional security and legislative requirements in the receiving countries are met.

It will also help us provide enhanced tracking and notification services when you are posting items from the UK overseas in the future.

We’re helping you meet these requirements by updating our shipping systems and Customer Own Shipping Solutions (COSS) specifications to collect and share this data.

We have been consulting with customers on making some or all of this data mandatory in order to enable access to additional product features and to avoid potential Customs delays and penalties.

Through the consultation we have identified some of the issues facing customers in the provision of this data.

For that reason we have decided to put in place resources and support to help customers provide this data as soon as possible.

More information: royalmail.com/international-data

We will be making two changes to our Max Sort service requirements

There will be two changes to the Max Sort service requirements from 1 January 2018. They are:

1. Changes to the minimum mandatory sortation requirements
2. Introduction of a ‘Goods’ classification for certain types of items.

1. Changes to the minimum mandatory sortation requirements from 1 January 2018

The Max Sort service requires customers to pre-sort, bag and label mail by format to destinations around the world. The minimum existing sorting options are as follows:

From 1 January 2018, some countries will change their sorting requirements so will move groups. The following table shows the countries that are changing groups:

2. Introduction of a ‘Goods’ classification for certain types of items from 1 January 2018

The Universal Postal Union (UPU), which sets the rules and regulations for the exchange of cross-border mail and parcels between designated Postal Operators, is introducing a ‘Goods’ classification for certain countries mainly outside of Europe.

This means that for some items which you currently send as a Letter or Large Letter, you must now send these as the Parcel format, regardless of the item’s size and weight.

• An item will be classed as ‘Goods’ if it is an item consisting of any tangible and movable object other than money, including objects of merchandise. Examples being: clothes, computer or tablet, electrical equipment, event tickets, footwear, mobile phone accessories.
• CDs storing commercial music or software, and DVDs storing commercial movies or software, will be also classed as ‘Goods’ as will magazines with items such as CD/DVDs or samples enclosed with the publication.
• Items such as books, magazines and personal data on CD or DVD i.e. personal photos or home videos can still be sent as either a Letter or a Large Letter format.

The countries affected by this change are:

Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Falkland Islands, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United States.

Further details can be found in our service user guides:

International Business Mail (pdf, 4.19 MB)
and
International Business Parcels (pdf, 6.56 MB)

 
Expansion of our Tracked destinations from 22 January 2018

We are launching a new Tracked only service to Japan and Thailand. Currently we offer a Tracked with signature service to give customers a choice.

We are also moving the following countries from being Signed destinations to Tracked with signature destinations: Albania, Cameroon, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan and Vanuatu.

The following services will be affected by this change:

• International Business Parcels Tracked
• International Tracked on Account
• International Tracked & Signed on Account

Changes take effect from 22 January 2018 for those using their Customer Own Shipping Solution (COSS) or a 3rd party's system.

Click & Drop will be updated on 29 January and we will not be updating Despatch Manager Online (DMO) as we no longer support this system.

Download our updated International Business Parcels user guide. (pdf, 6.56 MB)

General services

We have consolidated and streamlined our Terms and Conditions documents to remove duplication and to make them clearer for you to understand

New customers will be able to sign up more quickly to our products and services, and existing customers will benefit from the streamlined terms that are easier to read and navigate. These terms will apply to new and existing customers from 1 January 2018.

The main changes are:

• General Terms & Conditions now incorporates Account Terms and PPI Licence documents.
• Specific Terms for:
    o   (i) Parcels,
    o   (ii) International Business, and
    o   (iii) Marketing, Publishing & General Correspondence have been refreshed to remove unclear, duplicated or unnecessary content (more appropriate for the User Guide).

Our Parcels User Guide, Marketing User Guides and International User Guide have also been updated to reflect the above.

Updated Terms and Conditions documents:

• General Terms & Conditions (pdf, 468.64 KB)
• Specific Terms for Parcels (pdf, 186.12 KB)
• Specific Terms for Marketing Publishing & General Correspondence (pdf, 174.97 KB)
• Specific Terms for International Business Services (pdf, 123.21 KB)

During 2018 we will be offering a range of alternative shipping solutions to Despatch Manager Online (DMO) users before withdrawing our support for DMO

Support for DMO will be withdrawn during 2018.

All existing DMO users will be contacted in advance to support the required switch to an alternative Royal Mail shipping solution as soon as possible.

Our latest solution, Click & Drop, is the favoured alternative for most customers and we have a range of APIs and direct integrations.

Click & Drop provides all the features of DMO, plus a range of additional features and benefits to help your business.

It’s built on the latest technology, dealing with browser upgrades and is constantly improving.

We recommend switching now to start enjoying the benefits of Click & Drop straight away.

Simply visit royalmail.com/click, where you can view videos and other support information to help get you started.