CBP filed its status report early today, March 31, in Atmus Filtration to the CIT. It’s an important one.

Here are some key points regarding what Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) “Phase 1” will and won’t be doing:

•  CAPE Phase 1 will be limited to entries that “are either unliquidated or for which the 90-day voluntary reliquidation period under 19 U.S.C. § 1501 has not expired,” despite Judge Eaton’s latest amended order extending relief to finally liquidated entries. However, CBP says that it “intends to expand CAPE to process finally liquidated entries in a subsequent phase of development.”

•  CAPE Phase 1 will accept entries where the liquidation status is “Suspended,” “Extended,” or “Under Review,” as well as warehouse and warehouse withdrawal entries, but in these instances, refunds will be provided in the normal course upon liquidation, rather than immediately. This includes entries subject to AD/CVD.

• The following categories of entries will not be accepted for CAPE Phase 1: entries flagged for reconciliation; entries designated on a drawback claim; entries covered by an open protest; entries not filed in ACE/entries without a liquidation status in ACE; entries subject to AD/CVD for which Commerce has issued liquidation instructions that are pending liquidation under 19 U.S.C. § 1504(d).

• “CBP will take up to 45 days from its acceptance of a CAPE Declaration to review and liquidate the validated entry summaries identified on the CAPE Declaration, unless there is a compliance concern necessitating further review.”

For subsequent phases of CAPE, CBP says it expects to develop the following functionalities, among others: “Enhanced tools and validations to ensure compliance”; “Tools to further streamline revenue enforcement in situations in which there is an outstanding bill for non-IEEPA duties associated with an entry included on a CAPE Declaration”; “The capability to process entries for which liquidation is final”; and “The capability to process non-[ABI] entries where no entry summary lines exist.”

A few key takeaways. First, none of this changes our advice to continue protesting and consider filing a refund suit. Nothing in the status update addresses the protestability issue or whether suit is required. And although entries with an open protest won’t be covered in Phase 1, neither will finally liquidated entries. It is unclear whether importers can withdraw their protests and expect to be able to take part in CAPE Phase 1.

Second, this update suggests that importers should wait until after the 90-day voluntary reliquidation window to protest, just in case CAPE comes out in time for CBP to process these entries. CBP claims that if there’s at least 10 days left on the 90-day voluntary reliquidation clock, it can process them in time. However, waiting to file can mean missing timely protests altogether.

And third, CBP’s status update makes clear that it will be spot-checking entries for compliance issues and seeking offset on refunds. Again, another reason for clients to make sure that their entries are in order and that they have supporting documentation for their classification, value, COO, etc.

The NCBFAA Customs Committee and Counsel of Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A., will continue to monitor the CIT and CBP actions related to the IEEPA refunds and provide updates to our members, as available.

We wanted to provide the documentational instructions that CBP has provided.  There are 6 publications, but we have provided them via the singular media link (here).  ACE ACH REFUND instructions from CBP

We hope this helps shine some instructional light on this important situation.

——————————————————–  Early posting follows:

CBP’s (message) CSMS 67305746 announced that beginning February 5, 2026, in order for Importers to Receive Refunds they must be set up for Electronic Refunds.  NO PAPER CHECKS WILL BE ISSUED.

It now appears that all importers anticipating or expecting duty refunds for whatever reasons including the potential IEEPA duty refunds, scheduled to be ruled upon by the Supreme Courts (soon), must set up an ACE Portal account including the tab for ACH refunds, complete with the importers ACH bank information.  Please see the attached document for further instructions and directions.

CSMS 67305746

CBP is hosting a call on Jan 28 and Feb 11 to provide more information.  Interested parties can attend the conference calls scheduled for January 28th, and February 11th via Microsoft Teams

NBCBA_Carrier_Notification

Lately, CBP has been issuing penalties and warnings to Customs Brokers and Trucklines (carriers) for their reporting of incorrect or inaccurate manifest quantities. We tender this information to you in hopes that you will assist your carriers or work with them to provide usable quantities with which the can use to prepare their inward cargo manifest.

Pallets / Skids:  Both Pallets and Skids are not normally a usable quantity type for a carrier to use when making their inward cargo manifest with CBP.  In fact the word “Skid” is frequently mistaken as another explanation for a pallet.  But by CBP laws and regulations the proper usage of the word SKID is when you have a item, machine or component physically and somewhat permanently mounted and adhered to the skid to assist in the machines transportation.

By law carriers are required to manifest their quantity at their LOWEST EXTERNAL PACKAGING UNIT.  On the attached memo our office prepared for you use and instructions, and within the attached ACE e-manifest guidelines you’ll readily see reference to the proper way for a carrier to report their quantity such as:

240 cases containing 2400 cans on 5 pallets:  In this scenario carriers are to report 240 cases (not 5 pallets, and not 2400 cans).  Carriers need to manifest at the lowest external packaging count.

Another Example:

A shipment consists of 15 loose pieces of machinery, 1 crate of machinery parts, and 5 packages of miscellaneous machinery parts. Our suggested manifesting quantity we feel the carrier should report to CBP is; 15 + 1 + 5 = 21 packages.

Carrier Manifesting Assistance Memo

ACE Truck Manifest User Guide

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) in a Federal Register notice today said it will include new steel derivatives involving household appliances under the Section 232 50% tariffs, effective 12:01 a.m. ET on June 23. In the notice, BIS specifically revises Annex 1 to add the following additional steel derivative products:

(1) combined refrigerator-freezers under HTSUS subheading 8418.10.00

(2) small and large dryers under HTSUS subheadings 8451.21.00 and 8451.29.00

(3) washing machines under HTSUS subheadings 8450.11.00 and 8450.20.00

(4) dishwashers under HTSUS subheading 8422.11.00

(5) chest and upright freezers under HTSUS subheadings 8418.30.00 and 8418.40.00

(6) cooking stoves, ranges, and ovens under HTSUS subheading 8516.60.40

(7) food waste disposals under HTSUS subheading 8509.80.20

(8) welded wire rack under statistical reporting number 9403.99.9020

 The tariff imposed under Proclamation 10896 will be assessed on these derivative products for the value of the steel content in each product. All other tariff codes for steel and steel derivative products in Annex 1 remain unchanged, BIS said.  “Note that products classified under statistical reporting number 9403.99.9020 continue to be subject to tariffs under Proclamation 10895 as derivative products of aluminum for their aluminum content,” BIS said in the notice.

Here is the link posting:

2025-11067 Home Appliances added to Steel Derivates List of Commodities

Regards / Steve Sanders

Certification or Other Document Requirements: An importer may submit an importer, exporter or producer certification. The importer is responsible for exercising reasonable care concerning the accuracy of all documentation submitted to CBP.

The importer may make a claim for preferential tariff treatment based on a certification of origin completed by the importer, the exporter or the producer, for the purpose of certifying that a good qualifies as an originating good.

If an exporter that is not the producer of the good certifies the origin of the good, the certification may be completed by the exporter on the basis of either: (1) having information, including documents, that demonstrate that a good is originating; or (2) reasonable reliance on the producer’s written representation that the good is originating.

If a producer or an importer certifies the origin of the good, the producer or importer must have information, including documents that demonstrate that the good is originating.

The certification need not be in a prescribed format; it may be provided on an invoice or any other document, except a commercial document issued in a non-Party, may be submitted electronically, and may cover a single importation or multiple importations of identical goods within a maximum 12-month period. The certification must contain a set of minimum data elements as set out in Annex 5-A of the Agreement (Appendix III of these Instructions) that indicate that the good is both originating and meets other applicable requirements.

The certification may be submitted in English, Spanish, or French. If submitted in Spanish or French, CBP may request an English translation.

An importer is required to have a valid certification of origin in its possession at the time the USMCA preference claim is made. If the certification of origin is illegible, is defective on its face, or is incomplete, the importer is granted a period of not less than five working days to provide a copy of the corrected certification of origin.

A certification is not required for importations valued at $2,500 or less, provided that the importation does not form part of a series of importations that may reasonably be considered to have been undertaken or arranged for the purpose of evading U.S. laws, regulations, or procedures governing claims for preferential tariff treatment. If the Center of Excellence and Expertise (Center) Director determines that an importation described in this section is a part of a series of importations carried out or planned for the purpose of evading compliance with certification requirements, the importer may be required to submit a copy of the certification.

The attached document is a compilation of the CBP implementing instructions and the Rules of Origin as defined on the website https://usmca.com/temporary-entry-for-business-persons-usmca-chapter-16/ (4 Rules of Origin).

USMCA Rules of Origin

Thank you for your understanding, and just as a prompting, the sooner you can get us entry documents for July 4th the better.  Thanks to all our neighbor’s to the north, congratulations on the Toronto Raptures winning the NBA Title and we hope that you all have a wonderful “Canada Day” on July 1, 2019.

Regards / Steve Sanders and the Staff at Sanders Brokerage Services

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