International Tracked & Signed
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*A signature is taken on delivery however we don’t provide a copy of the signature to you as part of the service and it’s not available to view online.
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1 Delivery aim to Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden, Austria and Luxembourg is 3-4 working days
International Tracked & Signed cannot be sent to PO Boxes or Pack Stations, because a signature cannot be captured. This restriction does not apply when items are sent to Africa or the Middle East
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International Standard
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International Economy
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You are responsible for checking postal restrictions and prohibitions for your destination.
There are rules about what Royal Mail will carry and each country has their own restrictions which may differ, so it’s important to check both.
Check the status of deliveries around the world on our International Incident Bulletin
Prohibited and Restricted items to China
Prohibited items are forbidden and must not be sent.
Restricted items are allowed under certain conditions.
Prohibitions and restrictions vary from country to country and can sometimes apply to items which you may think are ordinary so please check the criteria carefully.
Please ensure that you follow the below guidelines before sending your items to China
- Royal Mail prohibits and restricts certain categories of items, please click here to check that your item is allowed within our network.
- Each post around the world must follow the Universal Postal Union (UPU) rules applicable to letter post and postal parcels regarding prohibited and restricted items. To identify whether your item is allowed, please visit Article 19 which contains a detailed list of items that are not admitted in the International mail flow here.
- The destination country also set their own rules around which items are prohibited and/or restricted. To check that your item is allowed to be sent to China please visit the UPU Country specific list here and scroll down to China.
- You can also use the UPU CDS search function here.
Please note: Specific Country restrictions and changes may be enforced at short notice, so for any clarification please contact the destination country’s trade, postal and customs authorities as appropriate. Royal Mail have no control over UPU and Country specific restrictions regarding prohibited and restricted items and it is your responsibility to check whether your items are allowed.
Use the correct address format
- You can write the address in either English or Chinese/Mandarin characters – however CHINA must be written in English on the last line of the address for both formats.
- Addresses in Chinese are written in the opposite order to the UK format – starting with the country, and working down to the addressee.
- However, you can use the English format when writing addresses in English.
Example:
Mr Liu Wei
1298 Yong An Road
100050 BEIJING
CHINA
Please write the addressee's mobile telephone number on your parcel, in case we need to contact them about their delivery.
Fill out your customs label
You’ll need to apply a customs declaration form to your package. They’re available online or in a Post Office® branch.
- For items with a value up to £270, you will need customs form CN22.
- For items with a value over £270, you will need customs form CN23 and clear plastic wallet SP 126, also available at any Post Office® branch.
Additional information
The delivery service for small parcels in China is a little different from the UK.
Postal items such as parcels are delivered to China Post in local post offices, and a notice is sent by letter to each addressee to tell them to collect their items. If there is no reply or collection within 7 days, a reminder notice card is sent to the addressee once more. If no reply or collection is made within 30 days, the item would be regarded as an undeliverable item.
For more information about posting an item to China please refer to the China Post website
When you send mail from the UK to destinations that are in a different customs union, we require you to provide electronic customs data. This is to satisfy existing and future legal, security and customs requirements in destination countries
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Where items are assessed and any duties and taxes are payable locally, customs policy in China is that items will be held for up to 3 months to allow for this. Should the recipient make payment within this window items will then be forwarded for delivery, however if they do not then items will be returned to sender.
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