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Neither Temu nor Shein use SEKO for US shipments , adding further confusion as to why SEKO was targeted . PenguinLens / Shutterstock . com

CBP curtails low-value shipment access for multiple customs brokers

By Eric Johnson

US Customs and Border Protection ( CBP ) has suspended access for several customs brokers to a program meant to facilitate low-value import shipments , forwarders have confirmed to the Journal of Commerce .

The Type 86 program is a voluntary initiative in which a consignee can have its customs broker provide CBP with data filed through the agency ’ s automated broker interface ( ABI ) under the de minimis rule , which allows for the import of one package per day worth $ 800 or less without filing a formal customs entry with CBP and — perhaps more importantly — without paying duties or tariffs .

CBP at the end of May informed SEKO Logistics , a global air and ocean forwarder and prominent Type 86 participant , that its access to the program would be stopped for 90 days , effective June 3 . The company alerted its customers of the pending suspension this week , SEKO told the Journal of Commerce .

“ During SEKO ’ s time participating in the Entry Type 86 program we have maintained an exceptionally high 99.9 % compliance rate and have been one of the top providers of Entry Type 86 with US CBP since the inception of the program in 2019 ,” the company said in a statement to the Journal of Commerce May 30 . “ Despite our extraordinary

compliance rate , we were given less than seven days before the suspension went into effect and no opportunity to address any potential or purported deficiencies identified by US CBP .

“ We strongly disagree with this decision by US CBP and are looking into all of our options for reinstatement as soon as possible ,” SEKO added .

The forwarder said it was working with customers impacted on a “ short-term solution that minimizes disruptions to their cross-border e-commerce supply chains .”

Rising regulatory scrutiny

Scrutiny of the de minimis rule , also known as Section 321 , has risen over the past year , largely due to the extensive use of the program by China-based e-commerce giants Temu and Shein . Critics of the rule say retailers abroad are using it as a loophole to evade duties , while they also point to 321 shipments as a source of illicit fentanyl and drug paraphernalia sourced abroad .

The Type 86 program , first piloted in 2019 , was meant to plug the gap that resulted in CBP getting little information about low-cost shipments by providing customs brokers and logistics providers a means to attract customers but also funnel more data about those customers to the agency .

In November , CBP said it was urging customs brokers participating in the Type 86 program to increase the information they collected from customers .

“ What we ’ re hoping to do , especially with customs brokers who do file Type 86 [ entries ], is get them more aware of who the customer is , who the client is and what is actually in the shipment ,” John Leonard , deputy executive assistant commissioner at CBP ’ s Office of Trade , said at the CONECT Northeast Cargo Symposium last fall .

A forwarding executive who asked not to be

30 Journal of Commerce | June 17 , 2024 www . joc . com