932 General Exceptions to Payment — Registered Mail and Priority Mail International Parcels

Indemnity may not be paid:

1. In excess of the limit prescribed for the insurance or registry fee paid or greater than that corresponding to the actual amount of loss (except Registered Mail service), damage, or the missing contents. Allowance must be made for depreciation or for needed repairs, and in the absence of purchase receipts or invoices, the contents must be described in sufficient detail.
2. When an item cannot be accounted for due to the destruction of service records by force majeure.
3. When the contents are prohibited.
4. For an item seized by customs or any other government agency.
5. When no inquiry or application has been made by the claimant or a representative within 6 months, commencing with the day following the mailing of the item. In the case of insured mail with Canada, however, the time limit may be waived when it is satisfactorily established that the delay was unavoidable and not the fault of the claimant.
6. For damage that results from the characteristics of the contents — that is, its inability, due to its nature, to withstand the ordinary incidents of the contemplated carriage.
7. When full compensation or reimbursement has otherwise been made by the U.S. Postal Service or by any outside firm or corporation whatsoever except on a pro rata basis as coinsurer.
8. For sentimental values arising from association. Also, in the absence of a complete description, the claimant must satisfactorily establish the ordinary market value at the time of mailing, particularly in the case of heirlooms or antiques.
9. For an amount in excess of the maximum prescribed for the insurance or registry fee paid, unless responsibility rests with the United States and it is shown to the satisfaction of the Postmaster General that the sender was charged a fee less than that required to cover the amount of indemnity desired, through error on the part of the U.S. Postal Service. On such a showing, the deficiency in fee may be collected from the sender and postal indemnity paid, within the limit fixed for the higher fee.