Recent News & Articles

The “Strengthening Customs Enforcement” executive order paves the way for overdue reforms to modernize U.S. customs and trade enforcement. The executive order empowers CBP to develop tools, including unified standards for all U.S. importers, stricter requirements for foreign entities, enhanced transparency, and increased accountability. These changes level the playing field, protect American consumers, secure U.S. …

This is a reprint of CSMS message 68966469 issued on June 16, 2026 U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently introduced tools and automation to streamline aspects of account management for the Automated Commercial Environment Secure Data Portal (ACE Portal).   Trade Account Owner (TAO) Account Reactivation  New CBP automation will now automatically reactivate a TAO account when the reactivation request is sent from an email address associated with a TAO account in ACE. TAOs with inactive …

On June 15, 2026, the Supreme Court declined to hear HMTX Industries, LLC v. United States, the long-running case that sought to overturn the Section 301 China tariffs first imposed during the Trump Administration. With that one-line denial of certiorari, a nearly six-year legal fight is over, and the duties importers have paid on “List …

On June 3, 2026, the White House issued an executive order titled Strengthening Customs Enforcement, directing the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to overhaul how importers are vetted, bonded, and held accountable. The order also raises disclosure requirements, increases penalties, and places new restrictions on how foreign-based importers bring goods …

Beginning February 6, 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will issue all refunds electronically via Automated Clearing House (ACH) (subject to limited exceptions), as announced in the Electronic Refunds Interim Final Rule published January 2, 2026 in the Federal Register (FR Document 2025-24171). In preparation for this change, CBP recently improved the ACH refund sign-up process …

This is an update to CSMS #60588866, issued on May 14, 2024, regarding the importer obligations and requirements in completing origin documents such as origin declarations, origin statements, and certifications of origin documents.  On May 14, 2024, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued guidance concerning an increase in the use of consignee information where importer …

Pursuant to the General Notice (89 FR 59126) published July 22, 2024, adjustments to certain customs user fees and corresponding limitations, as codified in 19 U.S.C. § 58c, will take effect on October 1, 2024. These adjustments are being made in accordance with the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act of 2015 (FAST Act), Public Law …

Today, the USDA published an updated version of the National Organic Program (NOP) Handbook. This public resource provides USDA-accredited certifiers and certified operations with guidance, instructions, and other policy documents that can help them comply with the USDA organic regulations.   Several handbook documents have been updated or archived because they have been replaced by new …

Pursuant to the General Notice (88 FR 48900) published July 28, 2023, adjustments to certain customs user fees and corresponding limitations, as codified in 19 U.S.C. § 58c, will take effect on October 1, 2023. These adjustments are being made in accordance with the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act of 2015 (FAST Act), Public Law …

The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service National Organic Program (NOP) has published the Strengthening Organic Enforcement rule. This regulation will go into effect in March 2023, and there will be a year-long phase-in period to allow filers to test the new process. Mandatory compliance will occur in March 2024.  NOP is currently building new technology to minimize …