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GAO-20-229R 1 (2019-12-18)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaeajf0001 and id is 1 raw text is: G A O U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Washington, DC 20548 December 18, 2019 Congressional Committees International Mail: Progress Made in Using Electronic Data to Detect Illegal Opioid Shipments, but Additional Steps Remain According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, more than 130 people die every day in the United States after overdosing on opioids.1 Since illegal opioids can arrive through international mail shipments, Congress has called upon the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and U.S. Department of State (State) to collaboratively improve the nation's ability to detect and interdict such shipments.2 The Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention Act of 2018 (STOP Act of 2018) requires USPS to transmit to CBP certain percentages of the advance electronic data (AED) on international mail shipments it receives.3 USPS collects these data from foreign postal operators. The data elements that USPS currently collects include, for example, the sender's name and address, recipient's name and address, contents' description, number of pieces, total weight, declared value, and an item identifier number. CBP officers analyze the data to target high-risk mail shipments for inspection. Once targeted, CBP sends electronic hold requests to USPS, which then presents the held shipments to CBP for inspection. The STOP Act of 2018 includes provisions for GAO to assess issues related to international mail shipments USPS receives. This report examines: (1) the extent to which USPS has transmitted required AED for international mail shipments to CBP for use in targeting mail for inspection; (2) any steps USPS and CBP have taken to assess or improve the quality of AED that USPS transmits to CBP; (3) what is known about the costs and benefits of using AED for targeting purposes; and (4) the extent to which USPS has presented targeted international mail to CBP for inspection. This report updates information that you requested and that we initially provided to your staff on June 28, 2019, to meet the provisions for GAO included in the STOP 'National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, accessed May 30, 2019, https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/opioids/opioid-overdose-crisis. 2As the designated postal operator in the United States, USPS accepts and delivers inbound international mail on behalf of designated postal operators around the world. Under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), CBP has primary responsibility for enforcing customs laws and regulations and seizing illegal goods that enter the country through international mail shipments. State represents the United States at the Universal Postal Union (UPU), a United Nations specialized agency that facilitates the exchange of international mail among over 190 member countries. 3Pub. L. No. 115-271, § 8003(a)(1), 132 Stat. 4075. Specifically, as an initial step, the STOP Act of 2018 required USPS to transmit AED to CBP for at least 70 percent of aggregate international mail shipments it receives-including 100 percent of mail shipments from the People's Republic of China-starting no later than December 31, 2018. Although not required, USPS transmitted some AED to CBP before the enactment of the STOP Act of 2018. See GAO, International Mail Security: Costs and Benefits of Using Electronic Data to Screen Mail Need to Be Assessed, GAO-17-606 (Washington, D.C.: Aug. 2, 2017). GAO-20-229R International Mail Page 1

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