Entry Type 13 goes live on 22 September. Here is what it changes for postal shipments into the US

On 22 September, US Customs and Border Protection moves Entry Type 13 from its certification environment into production. It is a new electronic informal entry, filed directly in ACE, for merchandise arriving through the international postal network with a value of $2,500 or less. For anyone still shipping to American consumers by post rather than by express carrier, this is the most important date on the calendar this autumn.

Why a new entry type exists

When the US suspended de minimis, it did so first for express and freight modes and left international mail on a delayed timetable, because the postal network had no mechanism for collecting duty at all. That gap closed on 24 July with a postal informal entry process written into 19 CFR 145.12(b). It works, but it is a stopgap: filers post a customs bond, compile shipment data — filer code, bond number, country of origin, ten-digit HTSUS, value, duty rate, carrier and tracking number — into an Excel or CSV file, email it to CBP, and pay through a duty worksheet on Pay.gov by the seventh day of the following month.

Entry Type 13 is the intended replacement. The same data goes into ACE as a structured entry, the duty is calculated in the system, and the shipment is visible to CBP the way an express consignment is. Postal carriers can also participate by adding the foreign postal operator's tracking number to their manifest, which lets CBP tie the entry to the physical item.

Voluntary, until it is not

The Federal Register notice describes a test that "will continue until concluded" — no end date, and the two Federal Register notices of 24 June that created it also codified the de minimis suspension itself into regulation. Participation is voluntary for eligible filers: owners, purchasers and their licensed brokers.

The catch is 22 October. From that date CBP begins enforcing exclusions from the postal informal process for goods claiming Chapter 98 or free-trade-agreement treatment, goods subject to Chapter 98 or 99 duties, merchandise under anti-dumping or countervailing duty, quota goods, alcohol, tobacco and anything requiring partner-government-agency clearance. Those shipments must go through formal entry or Entry Type 13. For a lot of consumer goods that is a distinction without a difference, but for anyone shipping supplements, cosmetics, electronics with FCC obligations, or anything under a Section 232 or 301 action, the voluntary test becomes the mandatory route in six weeks.

What a non-US shipper should do now

Decide who files. Entry Type 13 requires a party with the right to make informal entry. If your model is postal delivery with the consumer as importer of record, that party is in practice a broker or a qualified consolidator acting on your behalf. Line one up before October.

Get the classification right. The ten-digit HTSUS code is now a required data element on every mail shipment, and it drives the duty calculation. The days of "gifts" and vague descriptions on a CN22 are over for commercial goods.

Reconsider the channel. The postal route survives, but it now carries the same compliance overhead as express with less tracking and slower clearance. For most D2C brands the honest comparison is no longer post versus express; it is direct-ship of any kind versus holding inventory in a US warehouse and paying duty once on the replenishment shipment.

One note on the rate itself. The 10% Section 122 surcharge that applied through the spring expired on 24 July at its 150-day limit; the same day, USTR's Section 301 forced-labour action took effect at 10% or 12.5% depending on origin, stacked on the MFN rate. Turkish-origin goods are in the 12.5% tier. That is the number to put in the landed-cost model, and unlike Section 122 it has no sunset date.