UPS Raw Hemp Certificate of Analysis Rule Starts December 11

UPS will require every raw hemp shipment tendered from December 11, 2026 to contain a Certificate of Analysis (COA) or test results showing the product has a total tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentration, including tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA), of not more than 0.3% on a dry weight basis. The requirement appears on UPS’s hemp and hemp-derivatives shipping page, as posted on October 21.

The new line lands on the same day that most of Congress’s rewrite of the federal hemp definition takes effect. For online sellers of hemp flower and other plant material, a lab report that lists only delta-9 THC will no longer match what UPS asks to see in the box.

What UPS requires for raw hemp

UPS treats hemp in plant form as a contract service. The page says raw hemp is accepted “only for pre-approved shippers,” and that a shipper must open a dedicated account and provide licenses and a signed UPS agreement before sending any.

Once approved, each raw hemp shipment must:

comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws;
use labeling and outer box markings that do not identify the contents as raw hemp;
from December 11, 2026, contain the COA or test results demonstrating total THC, including THCA, of not more than 0.3% on a dry weight basis; and
be tendered using UPS Adult Signature Required service.

Shippers stay responsible for holding every license, registration, and government approval needed to sell and ship hemp, the page says. UPS does not say on the page whether it will inspect the COA, how it will treat a shipment without one, or whether a digital copy will satisfy the rule.

The rules that already cover hemp derivatives

Finished cannabidiol (CBD) and other hemp-derived goods fall under a separate heading. UPS accepts them only as permitted by federal, state, and local law, and it points shippers to state potency limits, citing New York’s Part 114 cannabinoid hemp regulations as an example.

Several conditions apply to all hemp traffic, raw or finished:

Adult signature. Every U.S. shipment containing hemp or hemp derivatives must use UPS Adult Signature Required service.
No aerosolized products. Hemp derivatives meant to be consumed through an aerosolized solution are prohibited in the U.S. network, including imports and exports. UPS refers shippers to its Tobacco Vape Policy.
No synthetic cannabinoids. UPS prohibits any synthetic or lab-made cannabinoid compound and its derivatives.
No pickups from marijuana sellers. UPS will not accept hemp or hemp derivatives from any location that sells marijuana or marijuana products.

The page also reserves UPS’s right to dispose of hemp shipments it is not authorized to accept, and to discontinue service to any shipper that tenders hemp products that break the law or the UPS Tariff/Terms and Conditions of Service.

December 11 is also the federal hemp deadline

UPS does not cite a statute next to its COA requirement, but the wording tracks federal law closely. Section 781 of Public Law 119-37, signed November 12, 2025, rewrites the definition of hemp in 7 U.S.C. 1639o to mean the plant and its derivatives “with a total tetrahydrocannabinols concentration (including tetrahydrocannabinolic acid) of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis.” The definition it replaces, written into law by Section 10113 of the 2018 farm bill (Public Law 115-334), measured only delta-9 THC.

That change was set to take effect a year after enactment. Section 2019 of Public Law 119-103, the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027, signed September 2, 2026, says that until December 11, 2026 the Section 781 amendments apply only to products containing cannabinoids that a Cannabis sativa L. plant cannot naturally produce. The total THC standard waits until December 11, the date UPS chose.

Congress could still move the date again. A Congressional Research Service In Focus report updated September 28 lists introduced bills that would delay the new definition by two years or repeal it, and notes that the House-passed fiscal 2027 agriculture bill contains no delay. UPS’s page gives a fixed date and does not say whether the carrier would follow a later federal change. EC4IM covered the state deadlines that arrive first in its report on Missouri and Illinois hemp cart blocks on November 12.

How FedEx and DHL eCommerce word their hemp terms

Neither rival’s public hemp language, as posted on the pages below, mentions a COA, total THC, or an adult signature.

FedEx’s prohibited items guidance for FedEx Authorized ShipCenter locations says customers cannot ship cannabis, THC, or marijuana-derived CBD. It permits CBD products for parcel services “only if they contain hemp-derived CBD with a tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentration of 0.3% or less” and comply with all laws, and it refers readers to the 2025 FedEx Service Guide. The same page prohibits tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. That page is written for retail ship centers, so a shipper with its own FedEx contract should check the service guide and its agreement as well.

DHL eCommerce’s unacceptable shipments policy bars, in its domestic network, hemp or hemp-based products that “either contain more than 0.3% THC on a dry weight basis, or do not comply with any applicable local, state, or federal laws.” It bars all hemp and hemp-based products in its international network. The same list excludes vapor products, electronic cigarettes, nicotine, and live plants.

Carrier page	THC limit stated	Lab report	Adult signature
UPS hemp and hemp-derivatives page	Total THC including THCA, 0.3% dry weight (raw hemp, from December 11, 2026)	COA or test results in raw hemp shipments from December 11, 2026	Required on all U.S. hemp shipments
FedEx Authorized ShipCenter guidance	THC of 0.3% or less for hemp-derived CBD	Not mentioned	Not mentioned
DHL eCommerce unacceptable shipments policy	No more than 0.3% THC, dry weight (domestic); no hemp internationally	Not mentioned	Not mentioned

What the change means for order and label workflows

Analysis. The practical gap is in the lab file. Under UPS’s rule, a hemp flower lot that passes a delta-9 test but carries enough THCA to push total THC above 0.3% would not produce the report UPS asks for. Stores that ship raw hemp through UPS will need each lot’s total THC figure on hand and a way to match the right COA to the right box, and one way to do that is to tie lot numbers to products and shipments in the order system. EC4IM’s guide to hemp labeling and lab testing for direct-to-consumer sites covers how those reports are typically published on product pages.

Shipping software settings matter just as much. Because UPS requires Adult Signature Required on every U.S. hemp parcel, a label created without it breaks UPS’s terms even when the product itself is compliant. Raw hemp boxes also need plain outer markings, which can conflict with branded packaging or pick-and-pack inserts printed on the carton.

For a hemp store, losing a carrier can be as disruptive as losing a payment provider, and both decisions turn on paperwork. UPS can end service over a single noncompliant package, and payment providers can exit the category on their own schedule, as EC4IM reported when Square set an October 15 deadline for hemp and CBD catalogs. A shop lining up CBD-friendly processing through Organic Payment Gateways or another specialty acquirer will be gathering lab results and license copies anyway, so the total THC reports UPS wants in raw hemp boxes from December 11 can come from the same file.

Where the UPS change leaves hemp shippers

UPS has written the new federal total THC standard into its raw hemp rules ahead of the December 11 effective date, adding a lab report requirement to a contract service that already demands pre-approval, plain packaging, and adult signatures. FedEx and DHL eCommerce publish simpler 0.3% THC limits on the pages reviewed here, with no lab report or signature terms. For hemp sellers, the next seven weeks are about matching each lot’s total THC result to the boxes that carry it and confirming that every label requests an adult signature.

UPS Will Require Total THC Lab Reports in Raw Hemp Shipments Starting December 11