U.S. Customs and Border Protection March 15, 2021 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

To address the threat of synthetic opioids and other dangerous items coming to the United States in international mail shipments and to implement the requirements of the Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention Act of 2018 (STOP Act), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is amending its regulations to require the United States Postal Service (USPS) to transmit certain advance electronic information to CBP. These amended regulations provide that, for certain inbound international mail shipments, CBP must electronically receive from USPS, within specified time frames, certain mandatory advance electronic data (AED) and updates thereto. These regulations describe the new mandatory AED requirements, including the types of inbound international mail shipments for which AED is required, the time frame in which USPS must provide the required AED to CBP, and the criteria for the exclusion from AED requirements for mail shipments from specific countries. The regulations also address compliance dates and the necessary remedial actions that must be taken with respect to shipments for which USPS has not complied with AED requirements.