U.S. Customs and Border Protection has taken several steps that it says aim to “ensure that all low-value [import] shipments are subject to consistent enforcement across every mode of entry.”
An executive order issued earlier this year continued the suspension, first implemented in 2025, of the de minimis exemption allowing duty-free treatment for imports of articles valued at $800 or less and imported by one person on one day. Consistent with that EO, but citing CBP’s own statutory authority under 19 USC 1321 to amend this exemption, CBP has issued two interim final rules (available here and here) revising its regulations to indefinitely suspend the exemption for shipments via the international postal network or any other mode, respectively. The rule regarding mail shipments will be effective July 24 (though compliance with some provisions will not be required until Oct. 22), while the other took effect June 24. Comments on both are due by July 24.
The rule on entries via mail will also establish a new interim process for informal mail entries valued at $2,500 or less, including those that would previously have been eligible for the de minimis exemption. Under this process filers will have to email to CBP an Excel spreadsheet containing information specified in the rule. This process will be limited to parties with the right to make entry (i.e., owners or purchasers of the goods or designated and licensed customs brokers), which will have to have a basic importation and entry bond sufficient to secure the entries.
(Shipments that are subject to quotas, antidumping or countervailing duties, any duties imposed under HTSUS Chapters 98 and 99, or import and entry-related partner government agency requirements, or shipments of merchandise for which duty-free treatment is claimed under HTSUS Chapter 98 or pursuant to a free trade agreement, will not be eligible for entry under this process and instead must be entered under the formal entry process.)
However, CBP has also announced its intention to begin on Sept. 22 a test of a new electronic informal entry type 13 for international mail shipments valued at $2,500 or less. CBP states that this test will provide an alternative to the interim process described above and will allow informal entry in ACE for qualified international mail shipments. It will also temporarily create an informal entry pathway for low-value international mail shipments subject to PGA data requirements or duties other than those set forth in HTSUS Chapters 1-97. Shipments subject to AD/CVD duties or quotas will remain ineligible for this test and will have to be entered under formal entry procedures.
CBP states that it plans to eventually replace the new interim process for informal mail entries with an automated process and that this voluntary test, which will run for an indefinite period, will allow CBP to evaluate the capabilities of the new entry type and determine if it effectively addresses the risks and complexities present in the international mail environment, particularly in light of the large volume of mail formerly eligible for the de minimis exemption.
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