Import Security and Fairness Act
The Import Security and Fairness Act would tighten and expand rules around the Tariff Act’s de minimis treatment (the small-amount shipments that can enter duty-free). It adds new restrictions on which shipments may qualify for de minimis relief, requiring a de minimis allowance to be unavailable for articles from certain countries (nonmarket economies that are on the priority watch list). It also creates new administrative and documentation requirements for shipments that may qualify for any administrative exemption, including penalties for noncompliance and greater CBP oversight. The bill adds notice-and-abandonment procedures for detained merchandise and updates agency terminology and procedures to reflect CBP's role. The changes become effective for shipments entered after 180 days from enactment. In short, the bill makes it harder for certain international shipments to ride the de minimis threshold, increases the information required to claim exempt status, enhances enforcement with civil penalties, and provides new options for handling detained or non-compliant merchandise.
Key Points
- 1Narrowing of de minimis eligibility: An article cannot be admitted free of duty under the de minimis provision if it originates from a nonmarket economy country and that country is on the priority watch list; new exceptions continue to apply for other cases, but the threshold is clarified to exclude certain countries from free-entry under 321(a)(2)(C).
- 2New administrative documentation regime: Within 180 days of enactment, regulations must require documentation for articles claiming administrative exemptions, to be submitted to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Required minimum information includes description, HTS classification, country of origin and shipment, shipper and importer identities, and transaction value; additional details may be requested, including sale/purchase information and platform listings.
- 3Veracity and penalties: The regulations must ensure documentation is true and correct to the best knowledge, or allow submissions based on what the party reasonably believes to be true; civil penalties of $5,000 for the first violation and $10,000 for each subsequent violation apply for noncompliance.
- 4Expanded CBP oversight and notice requirements: When CBP detains merchandise that may qualify for the administrative exemption, CBP must notify potentially interested parties and may offer voluntary abandonment; if no response within 30 days, merchandise may be denied entry and exported at the importer’s expense or deemed abandoned with title vesting in the United States.
- 5Administrative and enforcement updates: The act modernizes references to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in examination processes and adds new provisions related to administrative exemptions and potential abandonment; it also authorizes regulations related to imports by suspended or debarred entities.
- 6Effective date: The amendments apply to articles entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after the 180th day after enactment.