Keep shipping to the U.S. with Canada Post + Zonos

They're separate. Your Account Key and Verified Account billing handle duty prepayment — that doesn't change. The October 22 requirement is about product data: giving U.S. customs the details it needs to clear the shipment at all, regardless of who's paying the duty. If you already have a Verified Account, you don't need a new one or a new Account Key — you only need to complete Part 2 above (Catalog setup and product data). If you build your Catalog with a CSV or the Catalog API, you'll also use each product's exact Catalog name as its product description when you ship.

No. The Declaration ID and the $2,500 USD duty-prepayment threshold described above are unchanged. The new requirement is additional — some shipments will need both a Declaration ID and the product data described in Part 2, depending on what's in the parcel.

Because the postal channel is being brought in line with commercial shipping. Importers using commercial carriers have supplied this kind of product detail for years, while postal parcels moved under a simpler process that did not ask for it.

Three changes closed that gap:

• Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum began applying to postal shipments on July 24, 2026, and the rate depends on where the metal was originally made.
• U.S. agency review, from bodies such as the FDA and CPSC, reaches postal shipments on October 22, 2026, and can start applying sooner.
• Free trade agreements became available to postal parcels under $2,500 USD for the first time, and claiming a rate requires supporting documentation. You can add that documentation now; applying trade agreement rates to your shipments is coming soon, as soon as the systems are ready.

Nothing about your products has changed. What changed is how much detail U.S. entry asks for when a parcel arrives by post.

There is no subscription fee, and no cost to use your Catalog, Zonos Clarify Zonos AI, or document uploads. Everything in Part 2 is included in your existing Verified Account at no extra cost.

You do not have to work it out. Add your products to your Catalog and Zonos flags the ones that need attention, with the reason attached — melt and pour data, or FDA details.

This is the main reason to set up your Catalog early: until your products have been assessed, you will not know how much of your range the new requirements actually touch.

You can upload certificates of origin, metal origin documentation for Section 232 (country of melt and pour for steel, country of smelt and cast for aluminum), and free trade agreement documentation.

Supported agreements at launch: USMCA, U.S.–Australia, U.S.–Korea, and U.S.–Israel.

You can upload your trade agreement documentation now, but the reduced rates may not apply right away. Applying them to your shipments is coming soon, as soon as the systems are ready.

Documents can be attached at the organization level or linked to specific products, so one certificate can cover everything it applies to.

Clarify Zonos AI identifies the additional product-specific details a given item is required to provide, and asks you for them.

That is the gap it fills. Requirements sit with different U.S. agencies and vary product by product, so checking a whole catalog yourself is a slow job. Clarify Zonos AI works it out per product, and infers the likely answers from the product information you already have, so you can move through a lot of products quickly — reviewing what Zonos proposes and correcting anything that needs it before you submit. Every answer is saved to the product and reused.

A partner government agency (PGA) is a U.S. agency other than customs with authority over what may be imported — the FDA for food, drugs, and cosmetics, the CPSC for consumer products, and others.

PGA review has applied to commercial shipments for years. As of October 22, 2026 it reaches the postal channel, which means a regulated product may need additional data before it can be entered.

It depends on how you built your Catalog. If you connected your store with Zonos Sync, your orders come in with their tracking numbers, so Zonos matches each Canada Post shipment to its order, and the products in it, automatically. If you uploaded a CSV or used the Catalog API, Zonos matches by product name: every time you ship, enter each product's description exactly as its unique product name appears in your Catalog: the same words, in the same order, with the same spacing and punctuation. Capitalization doesn't matter. If they don't match, Zonos can't use the details saved in your Catalog. See how matching works

October 22, 2026 is the date to have the extra information complete for the products that need it, but treat it as a backstop rather than a target. These requirements can start applying to your shipments before then.

Section 232 tariffs have applied to postal shipments since July 24, 2026, and you can add trade agreement documentation today, so it's in place when trade agreement rates start applying (coming soon). Both depend on data you would otherwise be adding in October anyway.

The Zonos support team is available 24/7 at :e-mail: support@zonos.com.