A customs office that clears the goods, a lower express ceiling, and no M-bag lane.
The Controller of Customs decides
Malta concentrates its import decisions in a single office, and the listing is blunt about it.
The country listing states that many items are completely prohibited or admitted only under a special permit issued by the Controller of Customs, Malta. That phrasing puts a lot of weight on the office rather than on the postal product: a good that would clear routinely elsewhere in the European Union can still need a Maltese permit, and the permit is the recipient's to obtain, not the sender's. The practical move is to check with the recipient that anything beyond an ordinary personal gift is admissible before the parcel is sent, because a permit sorted out in advance is the difference between a delivery and a hold.
Used clothing, sacks, bags, carpets, embroidery, fruit, vegetables and many other foodstuffs are separately noted as subject to local health regulations, so a parcel of secondhand clothes or fresh produce is exactly the kind of shipment that draws a closer look on arrival.
The express product carries less
Malta inverts the usual weight order between the two Priority Mail International products, which is easy to trip over when a heavy box has to move fast.
| Product | Weight ceiling | Size limit | Customs form |
|---|---|---|---|
| Priority Mail International | 66 lb | 60 in longest side; 108 in length plus girth | PS Form 2976-A inside PS Form 2976-E |
| Priority Mail Express International | 44 lb | Per the international manual | PS Form 2976-B inside PS Form 2976-E |
| First-Class Package International Service | 4 lb | Small packet limits | PS Form 2976 |
| First-Class Mail International | 3.5 oz letters; 15.994 oz large envelopes | Letter and flat limits | None unless otherwise required |
| Airmail M-bags | Not available to Malta | — | — |
| “Global Express Guaranteed” | Suspended since September 29, 2024 | — | Not applicable while suspended |
A box between 44 and 66 pounds can go to Malta by the ordinary parcel product but not by the express one, so a heavy shipment that needs speed has to be split or sent as freight. Malta also clips the flat-rate line: 4 pounds on the envelope, 20 pounds on the medium and large boxes.
What will not go in the box
Malta's prohibitions are shorter than some, but two of the entries are broad enough to catch ordinary contents.
- Indecent or obscene articles. A broadly worded category that reaches printed matter, imagery and novelties, and one that customs applies at its own discretion.
- Firing caps and loaded metal cartridges for portable firearms, and ammunition. Named separately from arms and weapons, which are also prohibited.
- Switchblade knives. Called out on its own, so a spring-opening knife is out even where an ordinary blade might pass.
- Lottery tickets and advertisements thereof. Both the tickets and any promotion of a lottery.
- Live plants and animals, and radioactive materials. The predictable part of the list.
A prohibited item found on arrival becomes the recipient's problem at customs rather than a refund at the counter, which is the reason to read the list against the contents before sealing the box.
The customs form and the 2025 change
Malta applies the European Union's value-added tax to imported goods of any value, the exemption for small consignments having ended on July 1, 2021, so a recipient can be billed a modest amount on delivery even for an inexpensive item. The listing asks for the country of origin of each article and the sender's Economic Operator Registration Identification number where one has been assigned, and every item containing goods needs a six-digit harmonized system code per article.
The newer requirement is contact detail. Effective March 6, 2025, USPS asks that the addressee's contact mobile phone number and email address be included on the customs declaration for items containing goods to Malta, and that a telephone number appear on the label, required when the parcel goes to a post office box. A Maltese parcel that reaches customs without a way to reach the recipient is the one most likely to sit while the information is chased.
The add-ons, and a coverage gap
Registered Mail runs on First-Class Mail International, and the return receipt is sold only in tandem with it. Shipping protection is offered on the express product for merchandise but is listed as not available on ordinary Priority Mail International to Malta, which is a narrower coverage position than several other European lanes. Restricted delivery, international postal money orders and international reply coupons are all listed as not available.
The island leg is not sold here
What a parcel to an island costs comes down to its weight, its size and the day it ships, so no honest fixed number can sit on this page. Not one figure above is postage. The on-site calculator is a domestic tool: it quotes from one US ZIP to another and cannot see past the border, so the Malta crossing is not something it can cost.
SMKlog's online international labels cover Canada, the UK, Germany and Australia; other destinations are not sold here.
Where these rules come from
- United States Postal Service, Individual Country Listing — Malta — the Controller of Customs permit note, prohibitions, the express weight ceiling, the M-bag gap, the March 2025 contact-detail change, customs paperwork and extra services. Read 2026-08-08.
- United States Postal Service, international service alerts — the suspension and restriction lists on which Malta does not appear. Read 2026-08-08.
Malta and USPS both revise these terms without notice. The figures here are those the listing carried on 2026-08-08; read it once more before you post.
Common questions
Why do so many things need a permit for Malta?
Malta routes a wide range of goods through its Controller of Customs. The listing states that many items are completely prohibited or admitted only under a special permit issued by the Controller of Customs, so the office, not the postal label, decides whether a good enters.
How heavy a box can go to Malta?
Priority Mail International runs to 66 pounds with a 60-inch longest side, but the express product is capped lower for Malta, at 44 pounds. That reverses the usual order, where the fast product carries at least as much as the ordinary parcel.
Does USPS run M-bags to Malta?
No. Airmail M-bags are listed as not available for Malta, so a direct sack of printed matter to one addressee has to be planned another way. The ordinary letter and parcel products all run.
What does the customs form now have to include?
Since March 6, 2025 USPS asks that the addressee's contact mobile phone number and email address be included on the customs declaration for items containing goods to Malta, alongside the country of origin and the sender's EORI number where available.
Is Malta's mail service suspended?
No. Malta does not appear on the Postal Service's international service alerts, read on 2026-08-08. The ordinary products all run, and only Global Express Guaranteed is out, suspended everywhere since September 29, 2024.