Prohibited Items

Article 18 (Parcel Post Manual, Letter Post Maunal)

1 General

1.1 Items not fulfilling the conditions laid down in the Convention and

the Regulations shall not be admitted. Items sent in furtherance of

a fraudulent act or with the intention of avoiding full payment of the

appropriate charges shall not be admitted.

1.2 Exceptions to the prohibitions contained in this article are set out in

the Regulations.

1.3 All member countries or their designated operators shall have the option

of extending the prohibitions contained in this article, which may be

applied immediately upon their inclusion in the relevant compendium.

2 Prohibitions in all categories of items

2.1 The insertion of the articles referred to below shall be prohibited in all

categories of items:

2.1.1 narcotics and psychotropic substances, as defined by the International

Narcotics Control Board, or other illicit drugs which are prohibited in

the country of destination;

2.1.2 obscene or immoral articles;

2.1.3 counterfeit and pirated articles;

2.1.4 other articles the importation or circulation of which is prohibited in

the country of destination;

2.1.5 articles which, by their nature or their packing, may expose officials

or the general public to danger, or soil or damage other items, postal

equipment or third-party property;

2.1.6 documents having the character of current and personal correspondence

exchanged between persons other than the sender and the

addressee or persons living with them;

3 Explosive, flammable or radioactive materials and dangerous goods

3.1 The insertion of explosive, flammable or other dangerous goods as well

as radioactive materials shall be prohibited in all categories of items.

3.2 The insertion of replica and inert explosive devices and military

ordnance, including replica and inert grenades, inert shells and the

like, shall be prohibited in all categories of items.

3.3 Exceptionally, the dangerous goods specifically referred to in the

Regulations as being admissible shall be admitted

Live animals
4.1 Live animals shall be prohibited in all categories of items.

4.2 Exceptionally, the following shall be admitted in letter-post items other

than insured items:

4.2.1 bees, leeches and silk-worms;

4.2.2 parasites and destroyers of noxious insects intended for the control

of those insects and exchanged between officially recognized institutions;

4.2.3 flies of the family Drosophilidae for biomedical research exchanged

between officially recognized institutions.

4.3 Exceptionally, the following shall be admitted in parcels:

4.3.1 live animals whose conveyance by post is authorized by the postal

regulations and/or national legislation of the countries concerned.

5 Insertion of correspondence in parcels

5.1 The insertion of the articles mentioned below shall be prohibited in

postal parcels:

5.1.1 correspondence, with the exception of archived materials, exchanged

between persons other than the sender and the addressee or persons

living with them.

6 Coins, bank notes and other valuable articles

6.1 It shall be prohibited to insert coins, bank notes, currency notes or

securities of any kind payable to bearer, travellers’ cheques, platinum,

gold or silver, whether manufactured or not, precious stones, jewels

or other valuable articles:

6.1.1 in uninsured letter-post items;

6.1.1.1 however, if the national legislation of the countries of origin and destination

permits this, such articles may be sent in a closed envelope as

registered items;

6.1.2 in uninsured parcels; except where permitted by the national legislation

of the countries of origin and destination;

6.1.3 in uninsured parcels exchanged between two countries which admit

insured parcels;

6.1.3.1 in addition, any member country or designated operator may prohibit

the enclosure of gold bullion in insured or uninsured parcels originating

from or addressed to its territory or sent in transit à découvert across

its territory; it may limit the actual value of these items.

7 Printed papers and items for the blind:

7.1 shall not bear any inscription or contain any item of correspondence;

7.2 shall not contain any postage stamp or form of prepayment, whether

cancelled or not, or any paper representing a monetary value, except

in cases where the item contains as an enclosure a card, envelope

or wrapper bearing the printed address of the sender of the item or

his agent in the country of posting or destination of the original item,

which is prepaid for return.