CBP moved the compliance date for formal entry of three groups of international mail shipments from 22 October 2026 to 20 January 2027. The final rule appeared in the Federal Register on 22 October, the day the old date fell due. The Entry Type 13 deadline now applies to mail subject to another agency’s requirements, mail dutiable under HTSUS Chapter 98 or 99, and mail that claims duty-free treatment under Chapter 98 or a free trade agreement. CBP gives one reason: importers, brokers and logistics providers in the postal network need time to update internal systems, write procedures for submitting data and build the technology to comply.
The release and the rule list different goods
The 14 October release names international postal shipments subject to Section 201, 232 or 301 duty, or under the jurisdiction of a Partner Government Agency, and says they must be filed electronically in ACE through Entry Type 13, “otherwise, formal entry is required.” Chapter 98 and free trade agreement claims do not appear in it. The rule text published eight days later lists both. A parcel list built from the release alone leaves out mail that claims free trade agreement treatment, and Cubic’s 5 October post, written before the extension, still gives importers 22 October as the date CBP starts enforcing the exclusions.
The June spreadsheet route stays until then
The delayed date does not change the process importers use for informal mail entries during the delay, and parties with systems in place may comply earlier.
That process is the spreadsheet route from the June interim rule. The filer sends shipment data by the 7th day of the month after arrival and pays the duty through Pay.gov at the same time, so a package that arrives on 15 April is due on 7 May. The same interim rule made the three groups ineligible for this route, and 20 January is the date from which that restriction applies. The final rule says filers of eligible shipments may then choose formal entry or the Entry Type 13 test, which has been open since 22 September.
Only an owner, a purchaser or their broker can file
The test notice limits the right to make entry to an owner or purchaser of the mailed merchandise, or a licensed broker properly appointed by the owner, purchaser or consignee. A consignee who is neither, such as a foreign postal operator, USPS, a freight forwarder or a carrier, must obtain a licensed broker who acts as importer of record. That broker’s bond is the one obligated, and the filing needs a basic importation and entry bond, single transaction or continuous.
The filing itself carries twelve data elements, among them the 10-digit HTSUS classification, country of origin, duty rate, value, total duty owed and the tracking number the foreign post operator generated. Quantity and weight are required only where specific duty rates apply. CBP also keeps the power to require formal entry for any international mail shipment regardless of value if that protects the revenue.
Antidumping, countervailing duty and quota goods stay out of Entry Type 13 and need formal entry. Clearance by CBP is also separate from the carrier’s own release, a gap covered in customs release vs carrier release.
CBP now takes Entry Type 13 filings with incomplete agency data
The Entry Type 13 test began on 22 September 2026 as a voluntary option for mail valued at $2,500 or less. Since a notice effective 22 October, CBP has accepted filings for shipments subject to agency requirements with or without complete electronic PGA data. CBP will announce the end of that acceptance in a future Federal Register notice, and the law blog Customs & International Trade Law points out that the notice sets no end date. Mail with Chapter 98 or 99 duties or free trade agreement claims must still transmit the extra data those requirements call for.
The same blog advises filers whose PGA feed is unfinished to start live filings now, because in its experience data and bond gaps show up on the first filings.
The October proposal would reach nearly every package
CBP’s 8 October proposed rule, Low-Value Shipments, would apply the same entry and data requirements to all international mail packages except letters and flats. According to the law blog, it would replace the current postal informal entry process with Entry Type 13: electronic filing on or before the date of importation, a bond and additional data elements. The 22 October documents leave that proposal untouched. Comments are due on 7 December 2026 under docket USCBP-2026-0298.