Sponsors (4)
The bill strengthens CBP enforcement and raises revenue by removing low-value exemptions and tightening documentation—helping domestic producers and customs control but imposing higher costs, paperwork, privacy risks, and potential disruptions for consumers, small importers, and marketplaces.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and importers get clearer, standardized procedures and documentation requirements for detained low-value shipments, improving enforcement consistency and import classification.
Importers and customs brokers gain clearer legal procedures on notice, abandonment, and disposition of detained low-value parcels, reducing uncertainty about how cases are handled.
Small U.S. businesses and domestic manufacturers may face less competition from very low-cost imports from specified nonmarket-economy, priority-watchlist countries, potentially supporting sales for some domestic producers and sellers.
Consumers who buy low-cost goods from affected countries will likely face higher prices because small shipments will lose the $800 duty/tax exemption.
Small e-commerce sellers, individual importers, and marketplaces will face increased paperwork, stricter documentation obligations and civil penalties (e.g., $5,000 first; $10,000 subsequent), raising compliance costs and risk of business disruption.
Importers risk losing goods or incurring extra export costs because CBP may deem merchandise abandoned after 30 days if parties fail to respond, creating a loss risk for sellers and buyers.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Excludes low-value imports from nonmarket economies on the USTR priority watch list from the $800 de minimis duty/tax exemption and requires new CBP documentation, notice, penalty, and abandonment rules.
Official title: To amend the Tariff Act of 1930 relating to de minimis treatment under that Act.
Introduced January 9, 2025 by Thomas Suozzi · Last progress January 9, 2025
Removes duty- and tax-free treatment for low-value shipments (the $800 "de minimis" exemption) when the goods both originate from or are shipped from a statutorily defined nonmarket economy and that country appears on the USTR priority watch list. It also creates new documentation, notice, abandonment, penalty, and disposition procedures for de minimis shipments and requires Customs to issue regulations within 180 days to implement those requirements. The bill updates statutory agency names to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, adds civil penalties for false or missing data, allows denial of the exemption for suspended or debarred importers, and sets the amendments to apply to entries or withdrawals made on or after 180 days after enactment.