CBP just opened an electronic pathway for international mail. Here is who can file it, what data it takes, and why the bond requirement is the part people will trip on.
The Test Is Running, Not Coming
CBP’s Entry Type 13 Test commenced on September 22, 2026. Not announced. Not coming. Running.
The Federal Register notice published June 24, 2026 set the commencement date, and the test continues until CBP concludes it with another notice. There is no fixed end date. It runs until it does not.
If you handle international mail into the United States, the manual workaround you have been living with since de minimis went away now has an electronic alternative.
So what is Entry Type 13, who is actually allowed to file it, and what does it cost you to participate? Let’s break it down in practical terms.
How We Got Here
The short version, because the context explains the design.
CBP indefinitely suspended the duty-free de minimis administrative exemption for mail under 19 U.S.C. 1321(a)(2)(C) for articles valued at $800 or less. That was implemented through an interim final rule and is consistent with Executive Order 14324 of July 30, 2025 and Executive Order 14388 of February 20, 2026.
Once mail lost de minimis eligibility, filers could no longer use the special informal procedures tied to that exemption. They had to fall back on existing entry types, which meant formal entry in a lot of cases, or the new interim informal mail process.
That interim process lives at 19 CFR 145.12(b). It works, but it is manual: filers email CBP a monthly Excel worksheet and pay through Pay.gov by the 7th of the following month. It also excludes a meaningful chunk of shipments. Entry Type 13 is CBP’s attempt to automate it.
One thing that did not change: the suspension does not affect the separate de minimis exemption for qualifying bona fide gifts under 19 U.S.C. 1321(a)(2)(A) and 19 CFR 10.152.
What Entry Type 13 Actually Is
Entry Type 13 is a new informal entry type in ACE, built specifically for merchandise arriving through the international postal network.
It covers international mail shipments valued at $2,500 or less, including shipments that would previously have qualified for de minimis.
Here is the part worth paying attention to. Entry Type 13 temporarily opens an informal pathway for low-value mail that is subject to PGA data requirements, or to duties outside Chapters 1 through 97 of the HTSUS. Think Section 201, 232, and 301 duties, among others.
Under the interim process, those shipments lose access to informal entry once CBP’s delayed compliance window closes on October 22, 2026. After that date, the choice is formal entry or Type 13. The test waives the formal entry requirement for participants.
What stays out: shipments subject to antidumping or countervailing duties, and shipments subject to quotas. Those remain ineligible for informal entry and must be filed as formal entries under 19 CFR 145.12(a).
And CBP kept its discretion. It can require formal entry of any international mail shipment regardless of value when necessary to protect the revenue.
Who Can File It
This is where a lot of parties in the mail chain are going to discover they need a broker.
The right to make entry under Entry Type 13 is limited to:
- The owner or purchaser of the merchandise being mailed to the United States, or
- A licensed customs broker properly appointed by the owner, purchaser, or consignee.
CBP names the parties this affects directly. A consignee who is not an owner or purchaser, such as a foreign postal operator, USPS, a freight forwarder, or a carrier, must obtain the services of a licensed broker who will act as the importer of record.
Read that carefully if you are a forwarder or a carrier. You are not filing this yourself. You are appointing someone who will carry the IOR obligation for your shipments.
Carriers have a separate lane in the test, covered below.
There is no application to join. Participation is voluntary, and you enter the test simply by filing an Entry Type 13 in ACE.
The Bond Requirement
This is the operational detail most likely to catch people off guard.
Filing an Entry Type 13 requires a basic importation and entry bond, either a single transaction bond or a continuous bond, with the terms and conditions in 19 CFR 113.62. CBP is relying on its bond authority under 19 U.S.C. 1623 and 19 CFR 113.1.
And if a consignee appoints a broker to file, it is the broker’s bond that gets obligated. Not the consignee’s. The broker is the IOR.
CBP is explicit about why the bond is there: to protect the revenue, guarantee payment of duties, taxes and fees, and obligate the IOR to correct noncompliance with admissibility requirements.
If you are a broker being asked to file mail entries on behalf of a postal operator or a forwarder, that is your bond backing every one of those parcels. Price it accordingly.
The Twelve Data Elements
An Entry Type 13 requires the IOR to transmit the following electronically:
- Filer code
- IOR number
- Description of merchandise
- Country of origin
- All applicable 10-digit HTSUS classifications, including primary classifications in Chapters 1 through 97 and any applicable secondary classifications in Chapters 98 or 99
- Quantity and weight, if using specific duty rates
- Duty rate
- Value
- Total duty owed
- Carrier name
- Tracking number generated by the foreign post operator
- Arrival port
Quantity and weight are conditional. They are only required when specific duty rates apply.
Shipments subject to PGA data requirements or to duties outside Chapters 1 through 97 have to transmit the additional data those requirements mandate, on top of the twelve. The technical transmission requirements sit in the ACE CATAIR guidelines.
Element 5 deserves a second look. Full 10-digit classification on low-value mail parcels, plus Chapter 98 and 99 secondary classifications where applicable, is a real data burden at postal volumes. This is the element that decides whether your operation can scale into this test or not.
Carriers and the Tracking Number
Carriers transporting international mail can participate separately, and CBP is actively encouraging it.
Today, under existing regulations, the weight of arriving mail is the only carrier data CBP can use for entry purposes. CBP does receive Advance Electronic Data (AED) on mail under the STOP Act, but by statute it cannot use AED for commercial enforcement, including determining entry. CBP says plainly that this does not address the risk in the environment and leaves the agency unable to verify that a specific mail article was properly entered.
Carriers who join the test report the foreign postal operator tracking number for each arriving mail shipment on the manifest.
When both sides participate, the two tracking numbers match up. CBP can then pinpoint the precise arrival time for each shipment and confirm whether an entry was filed on time.
That matters because the Type 13 data set does not include a flight number or arrival date, both of which the interim worksheet requires. The carrier manifest is how CBP fills that gap.
Notice what that builds. A timeliness audit trail at the parcel level. CBP encourages carrier participation regardless of whether the entry filer joins.
Voluntary Does Not Mean Consequence-Free
The test is optional. The obligations inside it are not.
CBP states that a participant who fails to follow the test’s rules and conditions, fails to exercise reasonable care in carrying out participant obligations, fails to abide by applicable laws and regulations that were not waived, or fails to pay duties, taxes or fees on time, may face civil and criminal penalties, administrative sanctions, liquidated damages, or other enforcement action.
Participation also does not relieve anyone of obligations under any other statutory or regulatory requirement.
The waivers are narrow and specific. The formal entry requirements at 19 CFR 145.12(a)(2)(v) and (vi) are waived for participants, and 19 CFR 145.12(b) is waived only where it conflicts with the test. Provisions in 19 CFR part 143 subpart C and part 145 are waived only where inconsistent with the test terms, and only for entries filed as Type 13. Everything else in those parts still applies.
What to Do This Week
- Decide whether you are the IOR. If you are a forwarder, carrier, or postal operator, you are not filing this yourself. Line up a licensed broker now.
- Brokers: look at your bond exposure. Your bond is obligated on every Type 13 you file for a consignee. Understand the volume before you commit.
- Audit your data availability. Of the twelve elements, 10-digit HTSUS and total duty owed are the ones that require real work at parcel scale. Can your upstream source supply them?
- Screen out the ineligible. AD/CVD and quota shipments cannot use Type 13. Build that filter before you file, not after.
- Watch October 22. PGA and Chapter 99 mail can use the interim process only until October 22, 2026. After that, it is Type 13 or formal entry.
- Talk to your carriers. The tracking number match only works if both sides participate. Coordinate it.
- Read the CATAIR guides. CBP has published implementation guides in support of this deployment and will announce further updates through CSMS.
- Comment if you have something to say. CBP is accepting comments throughout the test at cbpdm@cbp.dhs.gov with “Comments on the Entry Type 13 Test” in the subject line. The agency will use feedback to decide whether to modify, expand, limit, end, or fully implement this entry type.
Where CustomsCity Fits
Entry Type 13 puts the data burden on the IOR: 10-digit classification, duty calculation, PGA data where it applies, and a clean foreign post tracking number on every parcel, at postal volumes.
CustomsCity handles the entry side. Our Type 13 ABI platform handles ACE entry transmission and PGA Message Sets, so the classification, duty, and tracking data go out together on the entry, ready to match whatever the carrier reports on its manifest.
That matters more here than in most entry types, because CBP designed the tracking number match as a timeliness check. A clean tracking number on your entry is what lets that check work in your favor.
The test is already running. If international mail is part of your volume, the question is whether you are filing it electronically or still working around it manually. Request a demo to talk through your Entry Type 13 workflow.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. It is a voluntary test. It provides an alternative to the interim informal mail entry process at 19 CFR 145.12(b). But CBP has stated it plans to replace that interim process with an automated one, so the direction of travel is clear.
International mail shipments valued at $2,500 or less, including those that would previously have been eligible for de minimis.
Yes, that is one of the main things the test opens up. Shipments subject to duties outside Chapters 1 through 97, including Section 201, 232, and 301, can use Type 13 during the test. They lose access to the interim informal process once the delayed compliance window closes on October 22, 2026. You must transmit the additional data those requirements mandate.
Not eligible. Those must be entered under formal entry procedures at 19 CFR 145.12(a).
No separate application. You participate by filing an Entry Type 13 electronically in ACE as the IOR.
The IOR’s. If a consignee appoints a broker to file, the broker is the IOR and the broker’s bond is obligated.
There is no set end date. It continues until CBP concludes it through an announcement published in the Federal Register.
