AI-powered customs classification, duty calculation, and pre-departure collection now available to postal operators across 192 nations

For international e-commerce customers whose packages are shipped through one of 192 postal networks, the cost of a purchase often isn’t final at checkout. Duties and taxes are calculated after departure, assessed at the border, and charged upon delivery. This creates unexpected costs, refused deliveries, and eroded trust. Postal operators want to solve this, but offering full landed cost transparency requires customs classification expertise across thousands of tariff codes and dozens of destination countries – expertise that most Posts aren’t equipped to build in-house. Today, that changes for all 192 UPU member nations.

Amazon PreDepart has successfully met the technical requirements of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) TechCert Programme for information technology integration and interoperability with UPU technology. This certification makes Amazon PreDepart available as a solution for providing Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) customer pricing to postal operators across the UPU’s 192-member nation network, accessible through the platforms they already use. This milestone builds on over six years of developing AI-powered customs classification and duty collection capabilities and follows US Customs and Border Protection’s selection of Amazon PreDepart under the Commercial Solutions Opening Pilot earlier this year.

What is the UPU Delivered Duty Paid Solution?

The UPU DDP solution enables postal operators to collect duties and taxes at origin (before shipment departure) improving customs clearance efficiency and providing full landed cost transparency to customers. For consumers purchasing goods online, DDP means that all relevant costs (shipping, duties, and taxes) are known at the time of purchase, reducing risk of unexpected charges at delivery and reducing risk of delays at the border by transmitting the product and shipment details pre-departure through Amazon PreDepart Service.

The solution is available through the UPU’s Customs Declaration System (CDS) and APIs, and supports integration with certified third-party providers. Amazon PreDepart is now one of seven certified providers, validated by the UPU TechCert Program to operate seamlessly within the UPU’s global postal technology ecosystem.

What this means for operators

Amazon PreDepart’s UPU TechCert certification gives postal operators and express shippers a turnkey path to offering DDP services without building the underlying complexity themselves.

For postal operators and express shippers, the certification means immediate access to AI-powered customs classification and duty collection capabilities through the UPU infrastructure they already use. CDS users can activate Amazon PreDepart as their DDP service enabler through a configuration parameter. Non-CDS Posts connect via the UPU PTC API Gateway. Express shipper platforms integrate directly through PreDepart APIs. All paths deliver automated HTS/HS classification, duty calculation, and pre-departure customs filing drafting at scale, no new systems or customs expertise required.

For customers, it means full cost transparency at the point of sale so long as complete product information is provided. Amazon PreDepart calculates and collects duties and taxes before shipment, so customers know their total landed cost for such products upfront. No surprises at delivery, no refused packages, no uncertainty about what they owe on those products.

How it works: the technology behind PreDepart

Amazon PreDepart combines Amazon Customs and Trade’s (ACT) deep trade and customs expertise with AWS generative AI and global cloud infrastructure. The solution delivers AI-powered capabilities across four key dimensions:

• Automated HTS/HS classification. Generative AI analyzes product descriptions, materials, and specifications to recommend the correct tariff classification code from thousands of possible classifications within seconds, removing the guesswork and inconsistency of manual classification.
• Complete duty breakdown. The solution compiles all relevant tariff classification codes and import duties into a single, unified view. Postal operators and their customers can quickly identify applicable tariff classification codes and understand import costs, enabling faster decision-making and greater confidence in customs compliance.
• PreDepart Elements. Ready-to-use web tools integrate directly into a postal operator’s website or shipping platform. The PreDepart Application Line Item Element embeds into the item identification step for interactive customs data collection, while the PreDepart Application Element offers a simpler single-component solution for managing multiple items. Both can appear as drawers, modals, or within existing workflows to match a platform’s design.
• Integrated duty calculation and collection. Once classification is complete, the system automatically calculates and collects duties within the carrier’s existing shipping flow — no separate systems, no manual handoffs. Amazon PreDepart then drafts customs filings before goods depart, supporting rapid clearance upon arrival.

Navigating UPU certification

Achieving UPU TechCert certification required Amazon to demonstrate interoperability across the UPU’s global postal technology ecosystem. The certification scope covers three key areas of integration:

• DDP functionalities: CDS software integration. Amazon PreDepart integrates fully with the UPU CDS, enabling postal operators to activate DDP services through a simple configuration parameter — no custom development required.
• POST*Net integration. The system transmits shipment data securely through the UPU’s global postal network, sending only the information required for customs filing: item identification, declared value, country of origin, and transport information.
• Customs broker services for US-bound shipments. ACT is a licensed US customs broker able to file customs declarations with US Customs and Border Protection and handle the financial settlement of applicable duties and taxes on US imports.

The certification supports multi-provider configurations (from CDS 2025 SP1 onwards), so operators can add Amazon PreDepart to their existing setup or run it as their sole provider, selecting the best fit for their routes and volumes.

What our leaders are saying

“Amazon PreDepart’s UPU TechCert certification represents our commitment to making international trade simpler and more transparent for postal operators and their customers worldwide,” said David Cardadeiro, vice president of Amazon Customs and Trade. “By integrating directly with the UPU’s global postal infrastructure, we can now bring our AI-powered customs solution to Posts across 192 nations through the platforms they already use.”

Get involved

In this post, we announced Amazon PreDepart’s UPU TechCert certification and how it enables postal operators across 192 nations to offer Delivered Duty Paid services through the platforms they already use, no customs expertise or custom integrations required.

Any operator in the UPU’s 192-member nation network can activate Amazon PreDepart as their certified DDP service enabler today. There’s no customs integration to build and no in-house expertise to develop. Activate, configure, and start collecting duties before departure.

Are you a postal operator or express shipper interested in activating Amazon PreDepart as your certified DDP service enabler? We’d like to hear from you! Connect with our team directly at predepart-interest@amazon.com.

Amazon Customs and Trade (ACT) is Amazon’s trade technology and customs brokerage organization, delivering AI-powered solutions that simplify cross-border commerce for shippers, carriers, and government agencies worldwide.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides the most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform, offering over 200 fully featured services from data centers globally. Millions of customers — including government agencies, the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading nonprofits — use AWS to lower costs, become more agile, and innovate faster.