All, 

Recently, we (USDA, SEL at The Smithsonian NMNH) were informed that USPS came up with a new customs form which must be completed on line at not cost. Once you complete the form, it will generate a barcode along with all the information required (sender/recepient info., weight, value, etc..)
I have to say that in the field about value ($), we were informed by the shipping office from SI to put $1.00.
I made some sort of instructional (step-by-step) on how to complete such form. 
I hope this helps... Recently I sent two packages to UK(NHM) and I got a confirmation email that they made it there with no problem.
Last but not least, do not forget your eDec (https://edecs.fws.gov)

I must remind everybody: this ONLY applies to packages sent FROM US to the rest of the world.

Cheers,

Andrés Garzón
USDA, ARS Systematic Entomology Laboratory
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Washington, DC






On Friday, March 17, 2017 1:13 PM, Colin Favret <[log in to unmask]> wrote:


For the record, there may be issues shipping to as well as from the US. This month, my samples on ice were delayed a week while I filled out and signed a declaration form that had never before been required. Good luck! Colin



On Thu, Mar 16, 2017 at 6:22 PM, Doug Yanega <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hi, all. We just had - for the first time ever - an outgoing loan returned to us by the US postal service (AFTER charging $56 in postage), with a sticker indicating that attaching a Customs Declaration is no longer sufficient, but that they now require Customs Declarations to be submitted *online*.

This raises a few questions:

(1) has anyone else had this happen?
(2) if so, were you able to figure out the correct protocol and succesfully ship thereafter?

From what I can see online, the international shipping option that uses the online Customs Declaration is part of an integrated process that looks like it can only be performed, and paid for, as an individual, rather than done via an institutional account. Our institution normally covers all shipping expenses and we do the paperwork; our shipping & receiving office is certainly not equipped to file online documents FOR us, and we have no money in our museum's budget to pay for loan shipments. It has always been that we labeled the package, attached the Customs forms, passed the package to shipping & receiving, and then the University paid the postage - but apparently that is no longer possible.

If anyone has insights into the proper workaround for this, I think a great many of us would benefit from knowing what to do. Otherwise this promises to greatly interfere with our ability to make loans.

TIA,

--
Doug Yanega      Dept. of Entomology       Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314     skype: dyanega
phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
             http://cache.ucr.edu/~heraty/ yanega.html
  "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
        is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82