Department of Posts Issues Guidelines for Refund of Postage Charges on International Mail Articles

📮 Guidelines for Refund of Postage Charges on International Mail Articles

The Department of Posts has issued detailed guidelines for regulating refund of postage charges on International Mail Articles, through an Office Memorandum dated 16 July 2026. The guidelines cover International Parcel, EMS, ITPS and Registered Letter articles booked on or after 1 April 2025.

Download Guidelines for Refund of Postage Charges on International Mail Articles  in PDF

Key Provisions

1. Recall of Article by Sender

A sender may request recall of an accountable International Mail Article before customs assessment/examination. In such cases, 70% of the postage paid will be refunded.

2. Non-Transmission of Articles

Where the Department is unable to transmit an article due to reasons not attributable to the sender:

• 100% postage refund is allowed in cases such as natural disasters, war, civil unrest, strikes, service suspension and certain operational or regulatory restrictions.
• Where articles are returned by Indian Customs/Security Agencies after screening due to prohibited/restricted contents, incomplete documentation or similar reasons, 50% postage is refundable.
• Articles returned because the sender does not respond to queries for more than three months are not eligible for postage refund.

3. Return by Destination Country

Specific provisions apply where articles are returned because of technical/system issues, incorrect ITMATT data, oversize/overweight conditions or missing CN22/CN23 forms. The refund depends on whether the issue is attributable to the sender, counter staff or a system/technical fault.

Where a return is caused by system or technical faults during booking, the full postage may be refunded and return postage, if applicable, is not collected from the customer.

4. Cases Where Refund Is Not Admissible

No postage refund is admissible where:

• Incorrect or incomplete information was furnished by the sender.
• Articles are returned after import termination due to prohibited/restricted goods or incomplete documentation.
• Articles are returned due to addressee refusal or because the addressee has moved.

5. General Principles

GST paid by the sender is refundable proportionately along with the admissible postage refund. Where a refund involves a deduction, the deduction represents operational and handling charges incurred by the Department. The guidelines apply to International Parcel, EMS, ITPS and Registered Letter articles.

6. Processing and Automation

The Head of Postal/RMS Division or Head of the FPO having jurisdiction over the booking office is the competent authority for sanctioning postage refunds and waiver of return postage. The SOP attached to the memorandum is to be followed while processing refund cases.

CEPT has also been requested to undertake the required technical development in APT 2.0 to automate the postage-refund process in accordance with these guidelines.

Effective Date

The guidelines are applicable to all shipments booked on or after 01.04.2025 and are to be read along with the Post Office Regulations, 2024 and subsequent departmental instructions.

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