Felicia Pullam, executive director of trade relations at CBP, defended the administration's proposal to end de minimis eligibility for goods subject to Section 301 tariffs as workable, arguing that charging a $2 fee per de minimis package will allow the agency to hire more staff to screen for contraband, and pushing back on industry arguments that collecting tariffs on low-value packages costs the agency more than that revenue.
Entry Type 86
Entry type 86 is a filing type for low-valued shipments through the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), CBP's online system for registering imports. The Type 86 Test allows low value shipments to benefit from the Section 321 de minimis entry process. Prior to the development of entry type “86,” Section 321 low-valued shipments had to be entered using the informal type “11” entry or the formal entry, which are more complex.
CBP is clarifying how the ACE Entry Type 86 Test governing de minimis shipments applies to customer returns under Chapter 98 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S., according to an Oct. 4 cargo systems message. The agency said a Chapter 98 classification is not applicable if using the Section 321 duty exemption under Type 86. The merchandise would still enter duty-free under Type 86, but the consignee will be subject to the $800/day de minimis limit, CBP said. "Filers should assess whether filing under the Entry Type 86 or filing a formal or informal entry under Chapter 98 is more advantageous when processing returns, as both are permissible," it said.
The administration rebranded two pending rulemaking processes and revived one that was abandoned in 2021 to address the compliance risks of de minimis shipments as well as shrink the volume of direct-to-consumer imports.
CBP will delay the scheduled Sept. 28 deployment of automating the $800 de minimis threshold in ACE following feedback from the trade community (see 2407240038), the agency said in a Sept. 3 CSMS message.
The Court of International Trade on Sept. 3 granted Seko Customs Brokerage's bid to voluntarily dismiss its case against CBP's temporary suspension of the brokerage from the Entry Type 86 pilot and Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism programs at the Court of International Trade. Counsel for Seko didn't immediately respond to a request for comment (Seko Customs Brokerage v. United States, CIT # 24-00097).
The House of Representatives will not be voting on a de minimis restriction as part of its "China week," according to a list of 31 bills published by its leadership Sept. 3. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had said in July that he expected changes to de minimis to be part of the package (see 2407080049).
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for CBP will next meet Sept. 18 remotely and in person in Washington, D.C., starting at 1 p.m. EDT, CBP said in a notice. Comments are due by Sept. 13.
The second release of the Section 321 -- Does Not Exceed $800 in Aggregated Shipments deployment is now fully available in the ACE certification environment for testing, CBP said in an Aug. 20 update.
The Coalition for a Prosperous America, which advocates for protecting American manufacturing, said the new Senate Finance Committee bill to restrict de minimis moves "things in the right direction," even more than the bill that passed the House Ways and Means Committee in the spring.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters: