(Yicai Global) March 28 -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang recently released new interim regulations on express delivery businesses via a decree of China's cabinet, the State Council. The new rules will take effect May 1, China's official government website reported yesterday.

China's courier market has ballooned in recent years, outranking all other countries by business volume for four straight years. Express companies in the country delivered more than 40 billion parcels last year, a 33-fold increase since 2007, with an annual growth rate of 42 percent. Their revenues rose almost 15-fold (averaging 31 percent per year) to nearly CNY500 billion (USD80 billion).  A symbiosis between e-commerce and e-bicycles has largely driven this trend. 

The number of parcel service firms has soared to over 20,000, and they process over 200 million packages on average each day, outstripping business volume in the US, Japan, Europe and other advanced economies combined, as Yicai  Global reported March 20. China chipped in more than 50 percent of the global growth in market volume. After filing with administrative authorities, courier firms and their branches can set up terminal service outlets without applying for a business license, and support will be made available for construction of delivery channels and connection sites at major rail stations, wharfs, airports and other transportation hub facilities, the regulations mandate.

Delivery companies are encouraged to operate cross-border shipping businesses and to build sorting centers for international shipments at key ports and service and processing facilities in foreign countries. The customs, entry-exit inspection and quarantine and postal administration authorities are required to introduce coordination mechanisms to improve international shipment management and facilitate customs clearance. The rules also lay down personal information protection requirements targeting illegal sales, leakage or provision of user information generated in shipping activities.