International Mail
About Electronic Advance Data (EAD)Transmission of Electronic Advance Data (EAD) became obligatory from January 1, 2021 (Fri).Items containing goods with handwritten labels may be delayed in clearing customs in destination countries or returned because EAD was not transmitted.
＜To the United States＞
International postal items with handwritten labels cannot be accepted because they lack EAD.
＜To European countries/territories＞
European countries/territories (including some of their overseas territories) have strengthened the requirement for EAD. Several cases have already occurred where some EU countries have returned items to senders because of missing EAD. Therefore, postal items to European countries/territories with handwritten labels will not be accepted effective June 20, 2022 because they lack EAD.
For a detailed list of countries/territories, please checkhere (PDF:50kB).
Please use International Mail My Page Service that transmits EAD when shipping labels are created.
About Electronic Advance Data (EAD)
For enhanced security, it has become obligatory to transmit data, such as the sender's name and address and names of the contents, to the destination postal service in advance converted into an electronic format called Electronic Advance Data (EAD).
For sending EAD
Please use International My Page Service (free of charge). If you use this service from a personal computer or a smartphone to create the label, EAD are transmitted automatically.
More information about this service is here.
Postal services requiring EAD
It is obligatory for
EMS, international parcels, small packets, international ePacket and international ePacket Light containing goods.
Kinds of data sent
- Name and address of the sender
- Name and address of the recipient
- Description of contents
- Total weight
- Mail item number (inquiry number)
- Other information entered
Treatment of postal items without EAD
To the United States
To prevent customer inconvenience, Japan Post does not accept postal items without EAD because such items will be returned by the United States Postal Service under a United States law called the STOP Act.
To European countries/territories
European countries/territories (including some of their overseas territories) have strengthened the requirement for EAD. Several cases have already occurred where some EU countries have returned items to senders because of missing EAD. Therefore, Japan Post will not accept postal items without EAD effective June 20, 2022.
For a detailed list of countries/territories, please check here (PDF:50kB).
To other countries/territories
We accept postal items without EAD if customers agree to the risk that the item may be delayed in clearing customs or returned to the sender. It is better to transmit EAD as much as possible.
Japan Post may contact senders to ask for additional information for EAD of their postal items.
If the customs authority in a destination country judges that an item has insufficient/inaccurate EAD, a post office* in Japan may contact the sender by email or letter to ask for further or accurate information based on the requirements of the destination country.
When the post office contacts the sender, they will mention the mailing date, destination country, item number or other information about the item. Please confirm the information with the sender's copy. If such information is not mentioned, it may be a suspicious contact pretending to represent the post office. Please be careful of such contacts.
Please also note that we cannot refund the postage on international mail items that are delayed owing to the determination made by the destination customs authority. Please input accurate and detailed data when making labels with International My Page Service.
- The post office contacting the sender may be the one where the item was mailed or a different post office.
FAQ
It is an American national law for counterterrorism and control of drugs. This law mandates the USPS to send customs data on postal items it receives to the U.S. customs authority in advance.
- Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention (STOP) Act
Yes. It will be obligatory from January 1st, 2021.
We cannot reimburse senders for the postage on postal items that are delayed or returned due to the failure to send EAD because this treatment is determined by the destination customs authority.
Information
