The Russian post discovered and shut down a “scheme of illegal importation via the postal service” in late May. Several major online retailers were discovered to be using postal designated ‘M-bags’ to ship clothes and shoes, the postal operator reported. According to the Universal Postal Convention, M-bags, an economical international shipping format, can only be used for shipping print media.
“Parcels containing branded products from Tommy Hilfiger and Asos, in particular, were identified within those bags,” the Russian Post explained to East West Digital News.
The Russian Post could not formally establish, however, whether the parcels were sent by affiliate organizations directly related to Asos and Tommy Hilfiger online stores or by third-party sites selling their products. Asos declined to comment on the issue, Tommy Hilfiger has not responded to EWDN’s repeated requests for comment.
M-bags are sold by nearly all national postal services and typically have a greatly reduced rate. M-bags available through the Russian Post, for example, cost ten times less than other shipping options the postal operator offers for shipping consumer goods internationally.
The Russian Post, in cooperation with the Russian customs service, screens parcels arriving from abroad using X-ray, much like those used to check luggage in airports.
The postal operator has previously encountered and blocked delivery of M-bags in similar cases of abuse, but this time, the Russian Post told EWDN, “it became clear that the practice was becoming systematic, so we immediately informed the postal operators of the countries from which the parcels came as well as the Russian clients.”
As of May 31, the Russian post had discovered as many as 500 parcels of non print media in M-bags and has already returned about 300 to the senders. Furthermore, in line with the Universal Postal Union rules on fraud prevention, the Russian post has initiated a inter-postal communication to notify foreign postal services of the abuse and request diligence in preventing further violations.
