De Minimis: New Proposals for the Entry of Low-Value Shipments
22 January 2025 02 MINS. Read USA
Last week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued two Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on de minimis low-value shipments that would give the agency additional information prior to the arrival of goods and restrict other goods from being able to use the popular duty and tax-free entry method.
De minimis allows certain shipments to enter the U.S. duty and tax-free. Shipments are not to exceed $800 in value imported by one person in one day. Currently, goods subject to anti-dumping or countervailing duties and quota merchandise are ineligible to use de minimis.
“Over the last 10 years, the number of shipments entering the United States claiming the administrative exemption has increased significantly, from approximately 139 million a year to over one billion a year. This exponential increase in shipments claiming the administrative exemption creates challenges to CBP’s effective enforcement of U.S. trade laws, health and safety requirements, intellectual property rights, and consumer protection rules.” – U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Enhanced Enforcement of Low-Value Shipments
On January 13, 2025, CBP issued an NPRM to strengthen information collection requirements for low-value shipments. Under the proposal, de minimis shipments would need to provide more data elements to Customs before a shipment arrives. More data elements will help CBP target high-risk shipments more effectively and verify eligibility for duty-and tax-free entry of low-value shipments.
Some of the unique additional data elements that could be required in the future include:
- Product identifier, i.e. SKU, part number
- Security screening report number
- URL to a marketplace product listing
- Product picture
Trade and National Security Action Restrictions
On January 17, 2025, CBP announced a second NPRM “aimed at tightening the duty-free exemption for certain low-value shipments entering the U.S.” The proposal restricts goods subject to Section 201 (solar and washing machines), 232 (steel and aluminum), and 301 (China) duties from being eligible for the de minimis exemption and requires that certain shipments claiming this exemption provide the 10-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) classification of the merchandise.
A comment period will be open for 60 days for each proposal.