UPS — EU Regulatory Updates

• EasyPost is rolling out changes so you can supply the data UPS requests for the new EU regulation changes through the existing shipment API.
• Separately, UPS has temporarily suspended one Worldwide Economy lane it can no longer clear under the new rules. This guide covers all of these changes.
• For the broad, cross-carrier picture of the EU regulatory changes, see the EU Regulatory Updates guide.

• What it is: two UPS carrier options, shipper_type and consignee_type, that classify the shipper (sender) and the consignee (recipient) of a shipment as a business or a consumer.

  • EasyPost maps them to UPS's GlobalTaxInformation/ShipperTypeValue and GlobalTaxInformation/ConsigneeTypeValue fields on the shipment request.

• Why it matters: UPS uses these classifications for EU de minimis customs handling.

  • Providing them helps ensure shipments clear customs correctly; UPS may hold or return shipments into the EU that omit them.
  • EasyPost only passes the values through to UPS if set, and does not infer these values from other values (such as residential flags on an address).

Set them under options.carrier_options.ups when creating a shipment. Each is independent — send either one, both, or neither.

• Accepted values (both fields): business, consumer. Anything else is rejected with a clear validation error.
• Both are optional and independent. Omitting a field leaves that classification unsent; omitting both leaves the shipment unchanged from prior behavior (no GlobalTaxInformation sent).

How to use it:

{
  "shipment": {
    "options": {
      "carrier_options": {
        "ups": {
          "shipper_type": "business",
          "consignee_type": "consumer"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

These values are sent on the GlobalTaxInformation block on the UPS ShipConfirm request. ShipperTypeValue always precedes ConsigneeTypeValue per the UPS schema sequence.

For example, shipper_type: "consumer" + consignee_type: "consumer" produces:

<GlobalTaxInformation>
    <ShipperTypeValue>02</ShipperTypeValue>
    <ConsigneeTypeValue>02</ConsigneeTypeValue>
</GlobalTaxInformation>

• What it is:

  • An optional address on each entry of a shipment's tax_identifiers, so you can supply the address (and, through it, the name) tied to a tax registration — e.g. the registered address behind an IOSS/VAT registration.

• Why it matters:

  • UPS exposes structured IOSS fields — Number + Name + Address — for shipments into the EU.
  • Previously EasyPost's tax_identifiers only accepted the ID number and type, so there was no way to pass the registered name/address UPS wants.
  • This change closes that gap.

{
  "shipment": {
    "tax_identifiers": [
      {
        "tax_id": "IM1234567890",
        "tax_id_type": "IOSS",
        "issuing_country": "DE",
        "address": {
          "name": "ACME GmbH",
          "street1": "Friedrichstraße 1",
          "city": "Berlin",
          "zip": "10117",
          "country": "DE"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Or, referencing an existing saved address:

{
  "tax_identifiers": [
    {
      "tax_id": "IM1234567890",
      "tax_id_type": "IOSS",
      "issuing_country": "IE",
      "address": {
        "id": "adr_5843b8dd903611f19a3d0022480b361d"
      }
    }
  ]
}

• address accepts either a reference to an existing saved address ({ "id": "adr_..." }) or a full address object
• Optional; omitting it preserves current behavior.
• Fields are not specific to UPS and may be used by other carriers

When an IOSS tax identifier carries an address, EasyPost emits it as an IOSSContact under ShipFrom/VendorInfo on the UPS request:

<ShipFrom>
    <CompanyName>Example Shipper LLC</CompanyName>
    <AttentionName>Example Shipper</AttentionName>
    <Address>
        <AddressLine1>123 Example St</AddressLine1>
        <AddressLine2>Suite 100</AddressLine2>
        <City>Anytown</City>
        <StateProvinceCode>CA</StateProvinceCode>
        <PostalCode>90210</PostalCode>
        <CountryCode>US</CountryCode>
    </Address>
    <PhoneNumber>5555550100</PhoneNumber>
    <TaxIdentificationNumber>IMDEU1234567</TaxIdentificationNumber>
    <TaxIDType>
        <Code>IOSS</Code>
    </TaxIDType>
    <VendorInfo>
        <VendorCollectIDNumber>IMDEU1234567</VendorCollectIDNumber>
        <VendorCollectIDTypeCode>0356</VendorCollectIDTypeCode>
        <IOSSContact>
            <Name>ACME IOSS Ltd</Name>
            <Address>
                <AddressLine1>10 Rue de Rivoli</AddressLine1>
                <City>Paris</City>
                <PostalCode>75001</PostalCode>
                <CountryCode>FR</CountryCode>
            </Address>
        </IOSSContact>
    </VendorInfo>
</ShipFrom>

What it is: a temporary guard that rejects UPS Worldwide Economy duty-unpaid (DDU) rate and buy requests destined for Germany (DE). WWE duty-paid (DDP) and every non-WWE UPS service are unaffected.

Why it matters: UPS asked EasyPost to temporarily stop sending WWE DDU to DE for both BYOA and the DAP program. EasyPost rejects these up front — a 422 at rate/buy time, before any UPS call — so you don't buy labels that would just be returned to sender. UPS currently has no ETA for when this service will be restored.

What's blocked vs. kept:

• Blocked: WWE duty-unpaid (DDU / DAP incoterm) to DE — all account types (BYOA and the DAP program).
• Kept: WWE duty-paid (DDP) to DE, and all non-WWE UPS services.

What you'll see:

• Rating or buying a WWE DDU shipment to DE returns a 422: UPS Worldwide Economy is temporarily unavailable for duty-unpaid (DDU) shipments to Germany (DE).
• On the DAP-program rate path the same rejection surfaces as SHIPMENT.RATES.UNAVAILABLE.

This is a temporary restriction and will be removed once UPS lifts it.