The way low-value goods enter the United States continues to change. On 22 September 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) began testing a new electronic informal entry process for international mail through the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). Known as Entry Type 13, or Informal Mail Entry, the voluntary test creates an electronic route for eligible international postal shipments valued at $2,500 or less.
It may sound like another technical customs update, but it reflects something much bigger: the continued move towards more structured customs declarations, better shipment-level data and clearer accountability for low-value goods entering the US.
Why has Entry Type 13 been introduced?
The test follows significant changes to the treatment of low-value imports into the United States, including the suspension of duty-free de minimis treatment for international mail.
CBP has introduced Entry Type 13 as an alternative electronic route for qualifying international mail. The test is intended to help CBP assess how an automated informal entry process can work in the postal environment and ultimately support the transition away from the current interim process.
Crucially, this is a test rather than a universal requirement. Participation is voluntary and CBP has not announced an end date. The test will continue until CBP concludes it through a further Federal Register announcement. However, the direction of travel is significant.
What information is required?
Entry Type 13 brings international mail further into the electronic customs environment. For participating shipments, information submitted electronically to CBP includes:
- Importer of Record number
- Merchandise description
- Country of origin
- Applicable 10-digit HTSUS classification
- Value
- Duty rate and total duty owed
- Carrier name
- Foreign postal operator tracking number
- Arrival port
Quantity and weight are also required in certain circumstances, while additional information may be necessary where goods are subject to Partner Government Agency requirements or additional duties. An importation and entry bond is required, either as a single transaction bond or continuous bond.
Goods subject to anti-dumping or countervailing duties or quotas remain outside the Entry Type 13 informal process and require formal entry.
The bigger story is data
Perhaps the most interesting part of Entry Type 13 is not the new entry code itself, but what it says about the future of international eCommerce customs. A postal tracking number has traditionally been associated primarily with delivery and visibility. Under Entry Type 13, it also becomes part of the customs dataset.
Carriers participating in the test can provide the foreign postal tracking number within their manifest data. Where both the carrier and entry filer participate, CBP can use that number to match the arriving postal shipment with its corresponding customs entry. It is another example of the boundary between logistics data and customs data becoming increasingly blurred.
Product classification, origin, value, importer information and shipment identifiers all need to connect. For retailers, marketplaces, postal operators and logistics providers, that makes the quality of the information held before a parcel is dispatched increasingly important.
Who is responsible for the customs data?
There isn’t one party responsible for every piece of information. Data may originate with the retailer, manufacturer, marketplace or logistics provider, while the customs entry may be submitted by the owner or purchaser of the goods or an appointed customs broker. What matters is that responsibilities are clearly defined before goods are shipped.
Retailers and sellers need to ensure accurate product information, including descriptions, classification, origin and value, is available to the parties responsible for completing the customs process. The Importer of Record also has specific responsibilities, while brokers and logistics providers rely on the quality of the information they receive to complete declarations accurately.
Entry Type 13 therefore reinforces a wider point for cross-border eCommerce: customs compliance depends on accurate data being captured at source and passed correctly through the supply chain.
What should businesses take from the trial?
There is no suggestion that every qualifying international postal shipment must now use Entry Type 13. It is important not to present the trial as a finished nationwide operating model. But businesses shipping eCommerce goods into the United States should pay attention to what CBP is testing.
Across international trade, authorities are asking for more detailed information about individual products and shipments, often earlier in the journey. Low value no longer necessarily means low scrutiny. The practical lesson is therefore bigger than Entry Type 13 itself.
Retailers and logistics providers should understand the data they hold, where it originates and whether it is sufficiently detailed to support increasingly electronic customs processes. As customs systems become more data-driven, getting the parcel to the border is only part of the job. Getting the data there accurately may be just as important.
Sources
U.S. Customs and Border Protection / Federal Register: Test of the New Electronic Informal Entry Process for Mail, published 24 June 2026.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Cargo Systems Messaging Service: Implementation of Entry Type 13 Test in ACE for U.S. Mail Processing, confirming deployment to the ACE production environment on 22 September 2026.
