As of Jan. 1, airlines and ocean carriers transporting international mail from China to the United States are required to file advance electronic data with Customs and Border Protection.
    This rule applies to mail not only originating in mainland China but in the country’s special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
    CBP said it wants carriers to communicate with postal officials in China, Hong Kong and Macau to “confirm that 100 percent of containers with postal shipments” include advance electronic data before loading. If this information is missing, then the carrier should not accept the container, the agency said.
    CBP said among its enforcement actions for noncompliance could be to order the return of those Chinese mail shipments without 100 percent advance electronic data.