A Prohibitory Order is a legal instrument issued by the United States Postal Service, against a mailer, on request of a recipient.
Its effect is to criminalize any further attempt by a particular mailer to continue to send advertisement material to a particular recipient through the United States Postal Service.
[2] It is requested by filing United States Postal Service Form 1500, either with a local Postmaster, or directly with the Prohibitory Order Processing Center.
A prohibitory order against a specific mailer, although the language of the application form implies that explicit sexual content is the only basis for finding a mailpiece offensive, has been extended by case law to allow the recipient to declare any mailpiece obscene, for any reason whatsoever, with no requirement to state the reason(s) for taking offense.
[4] In addition, recipients may use Form 1500 to apply for a general prohibitory order, covering any mailpiece that may be deemed offensive on the basis of explicit sexual content.