DHL Resumes Germany-to-U.S. Postal Parcels After Customs Compliance Overhaul

DHL Group’s Post & Parcel Germany division will resume shipments of postal packages from Germany to the U.S. and Puerto Rico for business customers starting Thursday.

Companies can opt to use DHL Parcel International for U.S.-bound parcels, in addition to DHL Express.

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The decision follows a four-week suspension of these parcels into the U.S., which was implemented before the Trump administration scrapped the duty-free de minimis provision. That trade exemption previously enabled international shipments worth $800 or less to be shipped into the U.S. tax-free.

Dozens of postal services across countries like Mexico, Japan, France, India and more all opted to suspend mail bookings to the U.S. to certain degrees after de minimis got the axe. In the week before de minimis’ demise postal traffic to the U.S. plummeted 81 percent, according to the Universal Postal Union.

DHL joins U.K.’s Royal Mail, Canada Post and Australia Post among major international postal services that have since returned service to the U.S. after their self-imposed bans.

The German logistics giant said it completely overhauled the entire data collection, customs reporting, and customs payment processes “in a very short time” to comply with the new U.S. customs regulations.

Many of the international postal companies impacted by the decisions cited that the guidelines to adapting to the new policies were unclear, and gave them very little time to prepare.

DHL customers will be able to use the “Postal Delivered Duty Paid (PDDP)” service to mail these goods to American businesses. The shipping company previously offered only for goods shipping to the U.K., Norway and Switzerland.

The booking of the PDDP service is mandatory for postal goods shipping via DHL, where the merchant sending the package covers all import duties for their recipient customers in advance. Royal Mail offered the same option when it reopened parcel shipping to the U.S., with those services powered by cross-border logistics provider Fulfillment Bridge.

According to DHL, shippers must provide complete and accurate customs data, particularly the customs tariff number and country of origin for each individual item.

The PDDP service costs 2 Euros ($2.36) per shipment. Additionally, the fees from the service provider, referred to as the “qualified party,” and the customs duties themselves will be passed on to the business customers without any markup.