International Mail

About Electronic Advance Data (EAD)

Transmission of Electronic Advance Data (EAD) became obligatory in the Universal Postal Union effective January 1, 2021. Items containing goods with handwritten labels may be delayed in clearing customs in destination countries/territories or returned because EAD was not transmitted.

Please use International Mail My Page Service that transmits EAD when shipping labels are created.

About transmitting Electronic Advance Data (EAD)

For enhanced security and efficient customs clearance, when sending goods, it has become obligatory to transmit data in advance, such as the sender's name/address and the contents, 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

EMS, international parcels, small packets and international ePacket Light containing goods.

• However, we recommend submitting EAD when sending items of monetary value, such as books or calendars, as Printed Matter or Letters (standard- and non-standard-sized) to Germany. For further details, please click here.
• There will be some changes effective March 1st, 2024. For more details, please check here.

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 in International Mail My Page Service

• Effective Friday, September 22, 2023, we recommend sending information such as HS codes of mail contents in the form of EAD when sending to certain European countries/territories (EU member countries, etc.). If such information is not sent or incorrect information is sent, it may result in delays or returns of postal items as decided by custom authorities of the destination country/territory. For further details, please click here.

Treatment of postal items without EAD

• There will be some changes effective March 1st, 2024. For more details, please check here.

To the United States and European countries/territories

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 does not accept postal items without EAD.
For a detailed list of countries/territories, please check here.

To the Republic of Korea

The Republic of Korea revised its Customs Acts to strengthen the requirement for Electronic Advance Data (EAD) effective July 1, 2022. Therefore, there is a greater risk that international mail items sent to the Republic of Korea without EAD or with insufficient/inaccurate EAD may be delayed or returned to the sender.

To Indonesia

Indonesia revised its Customs Acts to strengthen the requirements for Electronic Advance Data (EAD) effective November 6, 2023. Therefore, there is a greater risk that international mail items sent to Indonesia without EAD or with insufficient/inaccurate EAD may be delayed or returned to the sender.

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.

Changes effective March 1st, 2024

The requirement for transmitting EAD is getting stronger worldwide. Therefore, postal items containing dutiable articles to all countries/territories will no longer be accepted with handwritten labels. When creating labels, please use the International Mail My Page Service to transmit EAD.

1. EAD transmission will be mandatory for items to all countries/territories.

2. The types of postal services requiring EAD transmission will be expanded.

"Yes" in the "Requiring EAD transmission" column in the table below means that postal items cannot be sent with handwritten labels to the countries/territories where EAD transmission is mandatory.

• Handwritten labels are accepted only for sending letters or other documents.
  "Dutiable articles" are generally articles with declarable values and ones that may be subject to customs inspection. If it is unclear whether your items are dutiable or not, we recommend that you create labels using International Mail My Page Service.
  The destination customs authority determines whether items are subject to customs inspection. Therefore, Japan Post cannot provide any definite guidance in this regard.

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.

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