The White House has issued an executive order to strengthen enforcement of existing customs laws and regulations. The EO says the reforms “should focus on protecting national security, promoting lawful trade, ensuring the timely collection of duties, modernizing systems and processes, bolstering compliance mechanisms, increasing transparency, and protecting Americans and the domestic economy.”

Specifically, the EO directs the Department of Homeland Security to revise importer eligibility requirements and mandate that Importers of Record maintain a minimum level of tangible domestic assets, and require a bond or tangible assets for all formal entries of products into the U.S.

Further, IORs must provide to U.S. Customs and Border Protection additional data and identification information, including anticipated import volumes, year organized, ownership and beneficial ownership disclosures, business affiliation disclosures, and domestic asset disclosures, and any other data that CBP deems necessary.

These new requirements are directed at foreign IORs importing low-value articles into the U.S. because such IORs are not similarly situated to U.S. IORs.