CBP delays mail entry rule to Jan 20: de minimis crackdown slips 90 days

October 22, 2026 was supposed to be the day U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) closed the last soft landing for low-value parcels arriving by international mail. Instead, the date arrived with two Federal Register documents that push the hard part of the rule into 2027. A final rule published this morning moves the compliance date for formal entry of covered postal shipments to January 20, 2027, and a companion notice loosens the Entry Type 13 test so filers can transmit entries without complete partner government agency (PGA) data.

The 90-day slip was first flagged in a CBP trade bulletin on October 14 and reported by Reuters the following day. Today’s publication makes it binding regulation. For retailers, marketplaces, postal consolidators and the overseas sellers who ship directly to American consumers, the change buys one full holiday season of breathing room, but it does not change where the policy is heading: a separate CBP proposal released on October 8 would extend electronic entry, bonding and earlier filing to nearly every low-value international package.

What did CBP change on October 22, 2026?

The Federal Register for Thursday, October 22, 2026 (Volume 91, Number 203) carries a final rule titled “Indefinite Suspension of the De Minimis Exemption for Mail Shipments and New Postal Informal Entry Process; Delayed Compliance Extension.” It runs across pages 66638 to 66640 and carries RIN 1685-AA45, the same regulatory identifier as the June interim final rule it amends. The operative sentence is one line long: the compliance date for 19 CFR 145.12(a)(2)(v) and (vi) is January 20, 2027.

Those two paragraphs of the regulation are the ones that make certain postal shipments ineligible for the simplified informal mail entry process that CBP created in June. Under them, merchandise subject to PGA requirements, merchandise subject to duties under Chapter 98 or Chapter 99 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), and goods for which duty-free treatment is claimed under Chapter 98 or a free trade agreement must be formally entered. The June rule had delayed compliance with that requirement to October 22, 2026; today’s rule delays it again.

The document was signed electronically by Susan S. Thomas, Executive Assistant Commissioner of CBP’s Office of Trade, under authority delegated by Commissioner Rodney S. Scott. It was filed for public inspection on October 21 at 8:45 a.m. and takes effect on publication. CBP issued it without notice and comment, invoking the good-cause exception in the Administrative Procedure Act.

The companion notice on Entry Type 13

Published the same day on page 66707, a general notice (FR Doc. 2026-21570) modifies the voluntary test of Entry Type 13, the new electronic informal entry type for international mail in CBP’s Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). Until now, participants with PGA-regulated shipments were expected to transmit the agency data electronically with the entry. From October 22, CBP will “temporarily accept transmission of an entry type 13 that is not accompanied by complete electronic PGA data.”

The stated purpose is to let filers start using Entry Type 13 while they build the ability to send full PGA message sets. CBP says it will announce the end of this temporary acceptance in a future Federal Register notice, which means the relaxation has no fixed expiry date. For brokers who were stuck because one product line carried FDA or CPSC data they could not yet transmit, this is arguably the more practical of the two documents.

Why did CBP delay the mail entry deadline?

CBP’s own explanation is operational. The final rule says a further extension “is needed to give importers, brokers, and logistics providers in the international postal network additional time to update their internal systems, develop policies and procedures for submission of relevant data, and to develop the technological infrastructure needed to comply.” It adds that failing to give the public extra time “could lead to disruptions in the flow of important international postal shipments destined to Americans.”

The agency also argues that the delay does not weaken enforcement. Because the informal mail entry process created in June stays in place, CBP writes, “the dangers that justified the suspension of de minimis exception for mail remain addressed.” In other words, the de minimis exemption remains suspended for mail; what slips is only the requirement that the hardest categories of mail be formally entered.

The political backdrop Reuters highlighted

Reuters, reporting the original CBP announcement on October 15, framed the delay differently. The agency noted that the October 22 deadline fell 12 days before the November 3 midterm elections and that critics had warned the rule could raise prices for imported prescription drugs and other goods. Patient advocates and industry groups argued that data and bonding requirements could cause delays, refusals or added costs for personal drug orders shipped from countries such as Canada.

According to Reuters, a letter signed by 71 members of Congress, led by Democratic Representatives Jan Schakowsky of Illinois and Mark Pocan of Wisconsin, had asked agencies to delay the procedures for prescription medicines unless personal-use imports were protected. Merith Basey, chief executive of Patients For Affordable Drugs, called the postponement “a welcome reprieve” but “not a permanent solution,” Reuters reported. Representative Rick Larsen’s office has since issued a statement describing the delay as a success for lawmakers who opposed the rule’s effect on access to lower-cost medications.

CBP’s announcement did not mention medicines, and neither does today’s rule. Reuters reported that the Department of Health and Human Services referred questions to CBP, and that CBP did not immediately say whether a personal-use exemption is planned. Retail and e-commerce importers should therefore not read the delay as a carve-out for any product category; it is a uniform 90-day extension.

Which mail shipments does the January 20 rule cover?

The extension applies only to the subset of postal shipments that were carved out of the simplified informal entry path in June. Everything else that arrives by international mail continues under the interim informal process that has applied since the de minimis exemption for mail was suspended on June 24, 2026. The table below summarizes how the categories line up.

Postal shipment type	Treatment until January 20, 2027	Treatment from January 20, 2027
Ordinary goods under HTSUS Chapters 1–97, valued at $2,500 or less	Interim informal mail entry under 19 CFR 145.12(b); optional Entry Type 13	Unchanged by this rule; the October 8 proposal would move nearly all such parcels to Entry Type 13
Goods subject to PGA requirements (for example FDA, CPSC)	Interim informal mail entry; Entry Type 13 now accepted without complete electronic PGA data	Formal entry, or Entry Type 13 under the test
Goods subject to Chapter 99 duties (Section 201, 232, 301)	Interim informal mail entry; optional Entry Type 13 with additional duty data	Formal entry, or Entry Type 13 under the test
Chapter 98 duty-free claims or free trade agreement preference claims	Interim informal mail entry; optional Entry Type 13	Formal entry, or Entry Type 13 under the test
Goods valued over $2,500	Formal entry (unchanged)	Formal entry (unchanged)

CBP’s October 14 bulletin put the practical message plainly: “There are no changes to international mail entry procedures before Jan. 20, 2027.” The same bulletin encourages filers to use the optional Entry Type 13 process now, so that the mandatory date does not become a second cliff. Advisory firm BDO, in an October 16 client note, made the same recommendation and urged importers to identify which of their postal shipments fall into the Section 201, 232, 301 or PGA buckets before January.

What Entry Type 13 asks filers to provide

Entry Type 13 is filed electronically in ACE. According to BDO’s summary of CBP guidance, an entry must include the foreign postal operator’s tracking number, the sender’s name and address, the 10-digit HTSUS classification, country of origin, value, duty rate and total duty owed. Shipments subject to Chapter 98 or 99 duties, or claiming Chapter 98 or free trade agreement treatment, must also transmit the additional data those programs require.

Only the owner or purchaser of the merchandise, or a licensed customs broker appointed by the owner, purchaser or consignee, may file. That limitation matters for cross-border sellers who had assumed a foreign post or a consolidator could file on their behalf without a broker relationship. Our earlier explainer on the Entry Type 13 mail test that opened on September 22 walks through the ACE certification and production timeline in more detail.

How did the de minimis suspension for mail get here?

The postal rule sits at the end of a chain of executive and regulatory actions that began in 2025. Duty-free de minimis treatment for Chinese-origin low-value imports was suspended from May 2, 2025 under Executive Order 14256. Executive Order 14324 of July 30, 2025 extended the suspension to all countries from August 29, 2025, and Executive Order 14388 of February 20, 2026 continued it.

Separately, Congress wrote the end of the exemption into statute. Section 70531(b) of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, enacted on July 4, 2025, terminates the $800 de minimis exemption effective July 1, 2027. CBP’s regulatory program is effectively an attempt to build the entry infrastructure for that permanent change ahead of time.

The June interim final rules

On June 24, 2026, CBP published two interim final rules. One (91 FR 37789) suspended the de minimis exemption for goods arriving by all modes other than mail. The other (91 FR 37801), the rule amended today, suspended the exemption for mail and created a new informal mail entry process for shipments valued at $2,500 or less, with the suspension effective June 24 and the remainder of the rule effective July 24, 2026.

At the same time, CBP announced the Entry Type 13 test (91 FR 38007), which entered ACE production on September 22, 2026. The test was designed as the electronic alternative to formal entry for the hardest categories of mail. Shopappy covered the original cutover in its piece on the October 22 CBP mail entry deadline; that date is now superseded by January 20, 2027.

Date	Action	Effect on low-value mail
May 2, 2025	E.O. 14256	De minimis suspended for goods from China
July 4, 2025	One Big Beautiful Bill Act enacted	Statutory termination of de minimis from July 1, 2027
August 29, 2025	E.O. 14324 takes effect	De minimis suspended for all countries
June 24, 2026	Interim final rules 91 FR 37789 and 91 FR 37801	Suspension written into CBP regulations; informal mail entry created
September 22, 2026	Entry Type 13 test in ACE production	Voluntary electronic mail entry available
October 8, 2026	Low-Value Shipments proposed rule	Bonds, earlier filing and Entry Type 13 for nearly all mail proposed
October 22, 2026	FR Doc. 2026-21600 and 2026-21570	Formal-entry compliance moved to January 20, 2027; Entry Type 13 allowed without full PGA data
December 7, 2026	Comment deadline, docket USCBP-2026-0298	Last chance to shape the permanent rule
January 20, 2027	New compliance date	Formal entry or Entry Type 13 required for covered mail
July 1, 2027	Statutory de minimis termination	Exemption ends by law

What does the October 8 Low-Value Shipments proposal add?

Today’s delay is narrow, but the rulemaking that will matter most to retailers is broader. On October 8, 2026, CBP published a 32-page notice of proposed rulemaking titled “Low-Value Shipments” (FR Doc. 2026-20650, RIN 1685-AA38) in the Federal Register. CBP’s October 14 bulletin says it would extend the Entry Type 13 entry and data requirements to nearly all international mail packages, excluding letters and flats. Comments are due by December 7, 2026 through docket USCBP-2026-0298 on regulations.gov.

The proposal also reaches beyond mail. It would change how Entry Type 11, the standard informal entry used for express and cargo shipments valued at $2,500 or less, is filed. Industry trade press, including the fashion trade publication WWD on October 21 and The Loadstar on October 20, has described the core shift as the end of the post-arrival filing window for low-value shipments.

Filing at or before arrival

Under 19 CFR 141.5, an entry currently must be made within 15 calendar days after merchandise lands. CBP argues in the proposal that this window “poses problems in the context of high-volume, low-value shipments because it does not provide CBP with sufficient time to properly conduct risk assessment and targeting before the arrival” of potentially dangerous or unlawful goods. The proposal would require Entry Type 11 data to be filed electronically prior to or upon arrival, mirroring the rule that applied under the old Entry Type 86 de minimis test.

The proposal would also add a new data element, the Final Deliver-To Party, including name and address, whenever that party differs from the ultimate consignee named on the entry summary. KPMG, in an October 7 summary, noted that the proposal would make goods valued at $2,500 or less and classified under Subchapters III and IV of HTSUS Chapter 99 eligible for informal entry, and that international mail not timely and properly entered would be deemed voluntarily abandoned 15 days after importation.

Bonds and a $1,000 penalty floor

The most expensive change for small importers is the bond requirement. Entry Types 11 and 13 would both need a single transaction or continuous basic importation and entry bond. For low-value goods, CBP proposes a new minimum for liquidated damages of $1,000 per breach of listed bond conditions, or the value of the merchandise if higher (three times value, or $1,000 if higher, for restricted or prohibited goods and alcoholic beverages).

CBP’s regulatory impact analysis gives a sense of the bond economics. A continuous bond must be at least $50,000, and CBP cites an average premium of $441.52 for a $50,000 bond, gathered from 12 broker websites, or about 0.883% of the bond amount. Single transaction bonds carry a minimum premium of $54.167, so raising the single transaction floor from $100 to $1,000 would, by CBP’s estimate, not change the premium paid.

How much would the new low-value regime cost?

CBP’s own numbers are large. The agency projects 28,860,463 postal entries in 2027 and estimates the total cost to importers and senders at about $1.2 billion that year. Applying a $30 per-entry fee across those projected postal entries alone yields $865.8 million, according to the analysis. CBP states that the rule would impose annual costs on the private sector of more than $100 million and that “these costs would total more than $1 billion in the first year of the rule.”

On an annualized basis, CBP puts the net impact at negative $1,090,011,284 per year at a 3% discount rate, or negative $1,098,520,538 at 7%. The postal service and carriers carry part of the load. The U.S. Postal Service told CBP it expects initial programming costs of $12 million to $20 million to handle Entry Type 13, plus around $1 million a year in operation and maintenance, and CBP estimates the burden on carriers at $18,701,580 in 2027, or $50,004 per carrier on average.

Cost line (CBP estimate)	Amount	Who pays
Total cost to importers and senders, 2027	About $1.2 billion	Importers, senders, final recipients, brokers
Per-entry filing fee across projected postal entries	$865.8 million (28.86 million entries x $30)	Postal importers and senders
Annualized net impact (3% / 7% discount rate)	-$1.090 billion / -$1.099 billion	Economy-wide
USPS initial programming	$12 million–$20 million (midpoint $16 million)	U.S. Postal Service
USPS operation and maintenance	About $1 million a year	U.S. Postal Service
Carrier burden, 2027	$18.7 million ($50,004 per carrier)	Carriers
Average premium, $50,000 continuous bond	$441.52	Importers of record

CBP also referenced academic work by Fajgelbaum and Khandelwal (National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 32607), which estimated consumer welfare losses of $20.8 billion if de minimis had ended in 2021, against $43.5 billion of de minimis imports that year. Scaling that ratio to postal informal imports would imply losses of about $666 million in 2027, though CBP cautions that this figure is “too inaccurate to use in this analysis” and is not additive to its $1.2 billion cost estimate.

The enforcement case CBP is making

Against those costs, CBP sets enforcement data. Based on fiscal 2024 figures, CBP seized narcotics in postal de minimis shipments at a rate of 277.8 seizures per million shipments, compared with 15.8 per million for informally entered Entry Type 11 shipments and 2.6 per million for formally entered shipments. The agency argues that a bond requirement and the $1,000 floor will make entry data more reliable, because breaches would finally carry a financial consequence large enough to matter.

That framing explains why CBP is willing to slip the postal compliance date but not abandon the program. In its final rule, the agency describes the extension as a matter of timing, not direction, and stresses that importers who are already compliant may continue as they are.

What does the delay mean for retailers and marketplaces this holiday season?

For U.S. retailers that source through postal channels, and for marketplaces whose sellers ship cross-border by mail, the most immediate effect is certainty through peak season. Holiday 2026 parcels that would have needed formal entry from today can continue moving under the interim informal mail process until January 20, 2027. That removes a risk of postal holds on regulated goods such as cosmetics, supplements, children’s products and electronics during the busiest shipping weeks of the year.

The relief is uneven, however. The extension does not restore de minimis for mail: duties still apply, and the informal mail entry process created in June stays in force. Sellers who already rerouted volume from postal channels to express carriers or to U.S. warehousing are unlikely to reverse course for a 90-day window, particularly with the statutory termination on July 1, 2027 now less than nine months away.

Tariff exposure is still the bigger variable

Postal shipments subject to Section 301 duties are among the categories covered by the January 20 rule, so the cost of shipping Chinese-origin goods by mail continues to depend on trade policy as much as on customs procedure. Shopappy has tracked the separate clock on the Section 301 exclusions that expire on November 9, which could change the duty owed on some of the same goods entering by mail.

For brands that sell through platforms such as Temu, Shein, AliExpress or Amazon’s low-cost storefronts, the more consequential document remains the October 8 proposal. If finalized as proposed, it would require bonds, pre-arrival filing and Final Deliver-To Party data on the express and cargo parcels that replaced much of the postal volume after 2025. Comment letters from marketplaces and express carriers before December 7 are likely to shape whether those requirements arrive intact.

How does the U.S. approach compare with Europe’s parcel rules?

The U.S. is not alone in tightening the low-value channel, but the European Union has chosen a fee-based route rather than an entry-based one. The EU began applying a flat EUR 3 customs duty per item on low-value e-commerce parcels from July 1, 2026, and a separate EUR 2 Union handling fee per item applies to non-EU parcels from November 1, 2026. At current rates of about USD 1.12 per euro, those charges equal roughly USD 3.37 and USD 2.25 respectively.

The EU charges are collected per item through the customs declaration, while the U.S. regime places the compliance burden on the importer of record and the filer. Shopappy’s report on the EU’s EUR 2 parcel handling fee from November 1 details how member-state customs services are implementing that charge.

Feature	United States (CBP)	European Union
Status of low-value exemption	De minimis suspended since August 29, 2025; statutory end July 1, 2027	EUR 150 duty relief being phased out under customs reform
Main instrument	Entry requirements (informal, Entry Type 13, formal), bonds proposed	Flat EUR 3 duty per item since July 1, 2026; EUR 2 handling fee from November 1, 2026
Who bears compliance	Owner, purchaser or licensed broker as importer of record	Declarant and platforms, with the EU customs data hub planned for later years
Next deadline	December 7, 2026 comments; January 20, 2027 compliance	November 1, 2026 handling fee start
Data emphasis	Pre-arrival filing, Final Deliver-To Party, PGA data	Item-level declarations and product identifiers

The two systems converge on one point: both regulators are moving the cost of policing small parcels off the public purse and onto sellers, platforms and carriers. For a cross-border seller shipping to both markets, the U.S. extension does not reduce the total compliance work required in 2027; it simply staggers it.

What should importers and brokers do before January 20, 2027?

The common advice from CBP and from the advisory firms that have published on the extension is to treat the 90 days as preparation time, not as a reprieve. CBP explicitly encourages filers to begin using Entry Type 13 now. BDO’s October 16 note lists a practical sequence, which the steps below follow.

1. Map postal volume by category. Identify every SKU shipped by international mail that is subject to Section 201, 232 or 301 duties, regulated by a partner government agency, or claimed under Chapter 98 or a free trade agreement.
2. Decide the entry path. For each covered category, choose between formal entry and Entry Type 13 under the test, and confirm the volume and value thresholds.
3. Assign the filer. Confirm with brokers, postal operators and logistics providers who will file Entry Type 13, since filing is limited to the owner, purchaser or a properly appointed licensed broker.
4. Clean product master data. Verify 10-digit HTSUS codes, country of origin and customs values, which are mandatory fields for Entry Type 13.
5. Test PGA transmission. Use the new temporary flexibility to file Entry Type 13 without complete electronic PGA data while building the full message sets.
6. Comment on the proposal. Submit views on the Low-Value Shipments rule through docket USCBP-2026-0298 by December 7, 2026.

Retailers that already file other entry types should also check their bond position. If the October 8 proposal is finalized with its bond requirement for informal entries, importers that currently file Entry Type 11 without a bond will need either a continuous bond of at least $50,000 or single transaction bonds. Shopappy’s coverage of how FedEx built a duty and tax guarantee into a Shopify app shows how carriers are already packaging these obligations for smaller merchants.

The questions still open

Several questions remain unanswered in the published documents. CBP has not said when it will end the temporary acceptance of Entry Type 13 filings without complete PGA data. Reuters reported that CBP did not say whether a personal-use exemption is planned for prescription medicines. And it is not clear whether January 20, 2027 will hold, given that CBP has now extended this compliance date once and the statutory termination of de minimis follows on July 1, 2027.

What is clear is the direction. The de minimis exemption for mail remains suspended, the informal process remains in force, and the larger Low-Value Shipments rule is moving through comment. For anyone shipping low-value goods into the United States, January 20 is the next fixed date on the calendar, and December 7 is the last date to influence what follows it.

Frequently asked questions

What is the new CBP compliance date for international mail entry?

CBP’s final rule published on October 22, 2026 (FR Doc. 2026-21600) moves the compliance date for 19 CFR 145.12(a)(2)(v) and (vi) from October 22, 2026 to January 20, 2027, a 90-day extension.

Which mail shipments are affected by the January 20, 2027 deadline?

Postal shipments subject to partner government agency requirements, subject to duties under HTSUS Chapter 98 or 99 (including Section 201, 232 and 301 duties), or claiming duty-free treatment under Chapter 98 or a free trade agreement. From January 20, 2027 they need formal entry or Entry Type 13 under CBP’s test.

Does the delay restore the $800 de minimis exemption for mail?

No. The de minimis exemption for mail has been suspended in CBP regulations since June 24, 2026, and for all countries since August 29, 2025 under Executive Order 14324. Only the formal-entry requirement for certain categories is delayed; the statute ends de minimis on July 1, 2027.

What changed in the Entry Type 13 test on October 22?

A CBP notice (FR Doc. 2026-21570) effective October 22, 2026 lets filers transmit Entry Type 13 without complete electronic PGA data on a temporary basis. CBP will announce the end of this acceptance in a future Federal Register notice.

Who can file an Entry Type 13 for a mail shipment?

Only the owner or purchaser of the merchandise, or a licensed customs broker properly appointed by the owner, purchaser or consignee acting as importer of record. The entry is filed electronically in ACE.

Why did CBP delay the rule?

CBP says importers, brokers and logistics providers need more time to update systems, develop procedures and build the technology to comply, and that a hard deadline risked disrupting postal shipments. Reuters noted the original date fell 12 days before the November 3 midterm elections and followed concerns about prescription drug imports.

What is the Low-Value Shipments proposed rule?

Published on October 8, 2026, it would require informal entries to be filed at or before arrival, add a Final Deliver-To Party data element, require bonds for Entry Types 11 and 13, set a $1,000 liquidated-damages floor and extend Entry Type 13 to nearly all international mail packages except letters and flats.

When is the comment deadline for the Low-Value Shipments rule?

Comments must be received by December 7, 2026 through docket USCBP-2026-0298 on regulations.gov.

How much does CBP estimate the low-value rule will cost?

CBP estimates about $1.2 billion in costs to importers and senders in 2027 and an annualized net impact of about negative $1.09 billion at a 3% discount rate, with the Postal Service facing $12 million to $20 million in initial programming costs.

The final rule extending the compliance date is available on the Federal Register.