(Yicai Global) Jan. 7 -- Chinese courier firms could soon be barred from dropping off packages at third-party end facilities such as smart boxes or service stations without the approval of the customer, instead of taking them direct to the person’s residence, if new draft legislation is made into law.

Express delivery firms are not allowed to send packages to drop off points without the consent of the customer, according to a proposed amendment to The Measures for the Administration of Express Delivery Market released by the State Post Bureau of China today.

Couriers have started to refuse to deliver to home addresses and prefer to leave packages at pick up stations without the customer’s consent, leading to a string of complaints to the State Post Bureau. Consumers' pet peeve were couriers who did not deliver packages from door-to-door, according to the China Consumer Association last June.

Those deliverymen who flout the law will be fined a maximum of CNY3,000 (USD470) and the company will get a maximum penalty of CNY30,000 (USD4,705), according to the draft, which has been released to ensure the sound development of the express delivery sector and protect the rights of consumers.

The draft also called for companies to guarantee data privacy by using encoding and de-identification technology so as not to expose clients’ full details. The last time the Measures for the Administration of Express Delivery Market were amended was in 2012.

Editor: Kim Taylor