Information on International Items

11 December, 2020

As of January 1st 2021, all senders, private or corporate, must fill-in electronic data referring to items outside the EU containing goods. The lack of this information may imply the refusal of the item at the destination.

This change comes from the new legislation in several countries, as well as from the adoption and application of specific standards by international bodies like the Universal Postal Union (UPU), the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the World Customs Organization (WCO). The previous disclosure of detailed information on every item to the intervenient bodies is required – air companies, customs and delivery operators at the destination country – even before the items leave their original countries.

The application of these measures is related to security features. The previous disclosure of information will allow the assessment of the goods’ conditions for air transport and the exchange of international data to prevent terrorism, counterfeiting and others. On the other hand, there is some customs clearance process streamlining: the expedition and reception of customs data in advance enables the automatic (and faster) processing of the customs statements.

This information is worldwide known as EAD - Electronic Advance Data.

CTT, as an international traffic transport and delivery partner, wants to ensure that as a sender it complies with all these legal provisions. To do so, it offers the customers several solutions that enables them to fill-in these data: the companies may use the corporate app, at the CTT Mail Customer area or at the Express Apps; private customers may fill in the information at CTT’s website in “create international shipments”. Regarding the Express products, CTT ensure the collection of customs pre-notices data at the CTT Post offices. 

Not filling-in the information may imply the refusal of the item at the destination. The United States of America have already informed that they will not accept items as of January 1st 2021 if they do not receive the previous electronic information.

CTT appeal to the compliance with the legislation in force.