Definition of and US Policy Towards Extraterritorial Offices of Exchange (ETOEs)

An Extra-territorial Office of Exchange (ETOEs) is defined as an office or facility operated by or in connection with a postal operator outside its national territory on the territory of another country. These offices are established by postal operators for commercial purposes to draw business in markets outside their own national territory. As of 2005, there were more than twenty ETOEs operating within the United States.

The 2004 Bucharest UPU Congress decided that the items that originate from ETOEs are strictly commercial items not covered by the provisions of the UPU Convention, unless the laws or policies of the destination country allow ETOE traffic to be considered as international mail covered by these provisions.

Regarding inbound ETOE traffic, it is the policy of the U.S. Government that items originating from an ETOE in a foreign country shall be considered as commercial traffic upon arrival in the United States. As such, these items must be cleared through customs using commercial customs clearance procedures. If these items are to be delivered by the U.S. Postal Service to addresses in the United States, then they must be mailed as domestic U.S. mail charged at domestic U.S. postage rates.

Regarding outbound ETOE traffic, it is the policy of the U.S. Government that the UPU Acts do not apply to ETOE commercial operations in the United States, and that accordingly ETOEs are not authorized to use UPU documentation. According to this policy, an entity other than the U.S. Postal Service should not export mail matter from the United States to other countries using UPU documentation or U.S. Postal Service equipment or customs forms.