New US Customs Enforcement Order (June 2026): what importers and forwarders need to know

The 30-second summary

The Strengthening Customs Enforcement executive order directs US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to rebuild how importers of record are vetted, bonded, and punished. Every importer will need a minimum level of US assets or bonds, fuller ownership disclosure, and a new status called good standing that they can lose. Foreign importers face the heaviest new limits, including a ban on informal entry and tight restrictions on bonding. Penalties go up, and customs brokers and freight forwarders are now directly accountable for who they file for.

What is an importer of record, and what changes

An importer of record (IOR) is the party legally responsible for an import: declaring the goods, paying duties, and making sure the entry complies with US law. Today, almost anyone can be named as the IOR with a relatively light bond. That changes.

Within 180 days, CBP must apply several rules to every IOR:

• Minimum assets and bonds. Each IOR must hold a minimum level of tangible US assets, bonding, or both, and minimum bond coverage amounts go up.
• More data at registration. IORs must disclose anticipated import volumes, ownership and beneficial ownership, business affiliations, and US assets.
• Good standing. CBP will define and enforce a good standing status. Importers tied to fentanyl, nitazenes, other illicit substances, or precursor chemicals lose it and cannot import, and cannot designate a broker to import on their behalf.
• Registry cleanup and risk tiers. CBP will remove inactive IORs and sort the rest into risk-based tiers using compliance history, enforcement actions, and audit results.
• Enhanced, recurring vetting. Not just at signup. IORs, their affiliates, customs brokers, bonded custodians, and freight forwarders will all face recurrent vetting.

New rules for foreign importers of record

The order draws a hard line between a US IOR and a foreign IOR. A US IOR is, in short, an entity organized and located in the United States with controlling owners who are US citizens or permanent residents. To be located in the US an entity needs a real principal place of business, genuine activity, and meaningful US assets. CBP will write guidance specifically to stop shell companies and artificial structures from posing as US importers.

No more informal (de minimis) entry for foreign IORs

Foreign importers of record will be prohibited from filing informal entries, the channel used for low-value and de minimis shipments. The order points to the high volume of low-value parcels from foreign sellers, their limited familiarity with US trade law, and the difficulty of enforcing penalties against entities whose assets sit overseas. In practice, the foreign-seller-as-its-own-importer model that powers a lot of cross-border ecommerce no longer works on that path.

Restricted bonds and CTPAT for formal entry

For formal entries, a foreign IOR generally cannot rely on a continuous bond. Instead it must either be validated through CBP's Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT) program, or file through a CTPAT-validated, licensed customs broker. The message is clear: if your assets and people are offshore, you bring vetted, accountable parties into the chain or you do not import.

Heightened disclosure and certification

The order also raises what every importer has to declare and certify:

• Supply chain certifications. Importers must certify compliance with laws like the Countering America's Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) and the anti-smuggling statute, and provide detail on production methods, including manufacturer product identifiers and key specifications such as composition, grade, or size.
• Foreign export documentation. Within 90 days, CBP will require importers to submit any documentation the foreign exporter had to file with its own country's customs authority before shipping to the US.
• Foreign tax and business identifiers. Importers will need to disclose certain foreign tax and global business IDs.

Bigger penalties, and brokers are on the hook

Enforcement gets sharper teeth:

• Penalty floors. A minimum penalty of at least 50 percent of the assessed amount, absent exceptional national-security circumstances, plus a minimum liquidated-damages floor. Repeat offenders lose mitigation entirely.
• Broker accountability. CBP can impose maximum penalties on brokers who fail to conduct due diligence, repeatedly represent noncompliant clients, or fail to cooperate with information requests in time.
• Priority targets. The Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice will prioritize forced labor, misclassification, undervaluation, and illegal transshipment, including investigations under the Enforce and Protect Act.
• Faster disposal. CBP will speed up seizure and disposal of noncompliant imports, raise bond requirements for high-risk shipments, and allow third-party disposal.

Before and after: a concrete example

The rules land harder with an example. Take a mid-size Shenzhen electronics seller that ships phone accessories and small gadgets to US shoppers. (This is an illustration, not a named company.)

The model that worked before

The seller named its own Hong Kong entity as the importer of record and sent parcels in under informal, low-value de minimis entry. Duties were minimal, the bond was small, and it needed no US office, no US staff, and no US assets. It ran the whole chain from offshore and treated US customs as a formality. For years this was the cheapest way to reach the US consumer.

Why it breaks now

The order bans foreign importers of record from filing informal entry, so that de minimis path closes. To keep selling into the US, the same seller now has only two real options:

• Become a genuine US importer. Stand up a US entity with a real principal place of business, staff, and tangible US assets, controlled by US citizens or permanent residents. CBP guidance is written specifically to reject shell setups that only look domestic.
• Import through an accountable US party. File formal entries through a US importer of record, or a CTPAT-validated licensed customs broker, with a real bond, full ownership disclosure, and the export documents filed at origin.

Either way, the cheap offshore-IOR shortcut is gone. Costs go up, a US footprint or a vetted partner becomes mandatory, and the seller has to hand over data it used to keep to itself.

What this seller can do

• Decide early: incorporate and staff a real US importing entity, or move to a US third-party logistics partner or customs broker who will act as, or file for, the importer of record.
• Get the paperwork ready: beneficial ownership, supply-chain and manufacturer detail, accurate declared values, and the origin-country export filings.
• Re-price the product. The duty-light, bond-light math no longer holds, so margins and landed prices need a rebuild. Run the new landed cost before you commit.

A quieter second example: an importer that used to trim its declared value to cut duties, then negotiate any penalty down to a nuisance fee. Now undervaluation is a priority target, penalties start at 50 percent with no relief for repeat offenders, and the new export-document and supply-chain disclosures make the real value visible. The shortcut that used to be a calculated risk becomes a liability. The fix is simple to say and worth doing now: declare the real transaction value, keep clean invoices, and audit valuation and HS classification before you file.

Key deadlines

What	Timeline
Legislative recommendations to the President	45 days (around July 2026)
Foreign export-documentation requirement	90 days (around September 2026)
Penalty and mitigation standard revisions	90 days (around September 2026)
Streamlined disposal procedures	90 days (around September 2026)
Transparency measures	90 days (around September 2026)
IOR asset and bond minimums, registration data, good standing, registry updates, enhanced vetting	180 days (around December 2026)
Effectiveness report to the President	1 year (around June 2027)

What freight forwarders and brokers should do now

You are no longer a neutral filer. You need a record that shows you vetted each client and screened each shipment, because recurrent vetting and broker penalties are coming.

• Build a per-client due-diligence file: who owns the company, where their assets are, and their compliance history.
• Flag clients that look like foreign IORs using thin or shell US structures, and confirm whether CTPAT or a CTPAT broker is required.
• Screen entries for the four priority risks before you file: undervaluation, misclassification, questionable origin or forced labor, and transshipment.
• Keep an audit trail. "We trusted the client" will not be a defense.

What importers and brands should do now

The order rewards one thing: clean, connected data.

• Get your bond and asset position right, and confirm you will meet the new minimums.
• Keep good standing. Map your supply chain so you can prove origin and rule out forced-labor exposure.
• Be ready to produce beneficial ownership, product-level specs, and the export documents filed at origin, on demand.
• Tighten valuation and HS classification accuracy now. These are explicit enforcement targets, and they are the easiest to fix before an audit.

Frequently asked questions

Can foreign importers still use de minimis or informal entry?

No. Foreign importers of record are prohibited from filing informal entries, which is the low-value and de minimis channel. Foreign sellers acting as their own importer can no longer use that route.

What are the new bond requirements for foreign importers?

Foreign IORs filing formal entries generally cannot use continuous bonds. They must be CTPAT validated or file through a CTPAT-validated, licensed customs broker.

When do the new rules take effect?

The export-document rule, penalty changes, disposal, and transparency steps land around September 2026 (90 days). The IOR asset, bond, data, good standing, registry, and vetting changes land around December 2026 (180 days).

How does this affect customs brokers and forwarders?

Brokers and forwarders face recurrent vetting and new penalties for weak due diligence or repeatedly representing noncompliant clients. Your client and cargo records become part of your compliance posture.