S. 956 — Customs Facilitation Act of 2025

This section establishes the Border Interagency Executive Council (the Council) as an interagency forum, overseen by the Secretary of Homeland Security, to develop policies and processes enhancing coordination across federal agencies (e.g., State, Treasury, Defense, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Health and Human Services, Transportation, Homeland Security, and Environmental Protection Agency) on customs, transport security, health and safety, sanitary, conservation, trade, and phytosanitary matters to improve supply chain processes, identify illicit shipments, and expedite legitimate trade. The Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) (or designee) serves as chairperson, with a vice chairperson selected biennially from Council members; the Secretary may waive agency participation. The Council must (1) develop common risk management principles for cargo review and release; (2) coordinate and accelerate agency review of electronic trade data through systems such as the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE); (3) use pre-arrival data for expedited release and reduced redundancies; (4) streamline federal systems via ACE to cut costs; (5) enhance whole-of-government processing in ACE for manifests, advance data, admissibility, entry summaries, and financial data; (6) standardize nomenclature for supply chain parties and customs events; (7) engage stakeholders to boost trade facilitation and enforcement; (8) promote similar capabilities abroad; and (9) assess electronic payment opportunities for duties, taxes, and fees. Not later than one year after enactment and biennially thereafter, the Council must publicly release a progress report with opportunity for public comment.

This section directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a scalable, uniform automated platform—a single window system—for processing and releasing cargo imported into and exported from the United States, to be incorporated into the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) or successor system. The system must include (1) whole-of-government trade processing capabilities (e.g., cargo manifests, advance import/export data, entry summaries, financial data) conforming to ACE and requirements of International Trade Data System (ITDS) partner agencies and Border Interagency Executive Council members; (2) collaboration ensuring minimal redundant data submissions, real-time access for partner agency inspections via ACE manifests/entries, and clear identification of Harmonized Tariff Schedule headings under agency jurisdiction; and (3) other features advancing U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) missions of economic security, trade enforcement, and facilitation. This section requires the CBP Commissioner to assess commercial technology availability within 180 days of enactment and, if not acquiring it, report to Congress on cost-effectiveness and delivery plans. The Commissioner must implement the system not later than one year after section 104 appropriations are first available, collaborating with the Trade Support Network to match or exceed prior functionality (including the 21st Century Customs Framework), with Federal Advisory Committee Act exemption.

This section directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to provide for the continuous modernization of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE)—U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) single-window system for processing import and export data—or a successor system to advance CBP's missions in national economic security, trade enforcement, and trade facilitation. The CBP Commissioner must, in consultation with the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (CCOAC), the Trade Support Network (TSN), and other trade community members: (1) determine ACE development priorities; (2) collaborate on enhancements through meetings convened not later than 90 days after enactment and at least every 30 days thereafter—at which the Commissioner must solicit feedback, conduct user testing, summarize input, and incorporate results as practicable—and invite relevant partner agency representatives, contractors, and stakeholders; and (3) establish a ticketing system or similar mechanism to manage user feedback on bugs and other issues. Not later than 2 years after enactment, and annually thereafter, the Commissioner must submit to Congress and make publicly available a report describing ACE development progress.

This section authorizes appropriations to the Secretary of Homeland Security for FY2026 and each fiscal year thereafter, in such sums as may be necessary, for improvements to a scalable, uniform automated platform for processing and releasing cargo imported into and exported from the United States, including improvements to and integration of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), or any successor system, as described in section 102. (ACE is the primary system used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection for automating import and export filings.)

This section establishes simplified procedures for drawback claims (i.e., refunds of duties, taxes, and fees on imported merchandise, or substitutes classifiable under the same 8-digit HTSUS subheading, that is used in articles exported or destroyed under CBP supervision within five years of importation). It (1) provides accelerated payment of estimated duties, taxes, and fees to qualified claimants pending liquidation, with the claimant required to refund any excess over the final liquidated amount exceeding $20 or CBP required to pay any shortfall exceeding $20; (2) eliminates the requirement for prior notice of export; (3) permits electronic filing of claim amendments or perfections; and (4) eliminates the need for prior CBP approval or rulings for substitution drawback claims (provided the claimant exercises reasonable care). Qualified claimants must submit business records evidencing drawback eligibility (deemed complete upon submission and applicable to all future claims) and post a bond securing 100% of estimated duties, taxes, and fees; CBP must issue regulations within 180 days of enactment.

This section amends 13 U.S.C. 304 by adding subsection (d) to direct the Secretary of Commerce to prescribe regulations that (1) account for advance documentation or information and reports related to cargo exports under subsection (a) that are made available before exportation or transportation; (2) consider differences in submitters' business models impacting information availability and adjust submission timelines as appropriate; and (3) coordinate with the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to avoid redundant reporting with requirements under other laws, to the extent practicable. (As background, current law under 13 U.S.C. 304 allows carriers to file export cargo information after departure upon posting a $10,000 bond, subject to penalties up to $1,000 per day of delinquency not exceeding $10,000 per violation.)

This section provides that clerical errors or mistakes of fact in the submission of export data are not violations under 13 U.S.C. § 305(b) unless they are part of a pattern of violative conduct. It further specifies that the mere nonintentional repetition by an electronic system of an initial clerical error does not constitute a pattern of violative conduct.

This section directs the Comptroller General of the United States to submit to Congress, not later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act, a report on the fee schedule of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The report must assess (1) potential restructuring of the schedule and (2) ways to reduce costs for the most compliant entities in the trade community while ensuring all entities benefiting from CBP services pay for them, along with recommendations for Congress.

This section expands the duties of Centers of Excellence and Expertise (CEEs)—Customs and Border Protection offices that centralize expertise for trade facilitation and enforcement in specific product areas—under 19 U.S.C. 4317(a) by adding requirements to (1) develop procedures, informed compliance publications, or other guidance with respect to the entry of merchandise in compliance with the law; and (2) provide guidance to importers on post-entry and clearance procedures for imported merchandise impacted by admissibility issues, including alleged violations of 19 U.S.C. 1307 (prohibiting imports produced wholly or in part by convict, forced, or indentured labor).

This section directs the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and heads of agencies represented on the Border Interagency Executive Council to adhere to specified requirements when developing regulations that impose additional information collection for trade enforcement and facilitation. Those requirements are: (1) consulting with affected parties, including importers, exporters, carriers, customs brokers, platforms, and freight forwarders; (2) imposing requirements primarily on parties with direct knowledge of the information and, where impracticable, accounting for how such parties acquire and verify the information under reasonable commercial practices (allowing transmission based on reasonable belief if not verifiable); (3) considering competitive relationships among affected parties; (4) for cargo carriers, accounting for differences among transportation modes in commercial practices, operations, and electronic data capabilities; (5) accounting for technology availability and, if not widely available upon promulgation, providing interim requirements or other accommodations; (6) balancing information transmittal timing between commerce flow and enforcement needs, including mode-specific considerations for carriers; (7) avoiding redundant requirements; (8) providing appropriate transition periods considering different business models; and (9) requiring the United States Postal Service, in collaboration with the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Postmaster General, to transmit specified information to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for international mail shipments (including those from foreign postal operators via private carrier).

This section directs the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to notify and consult with the trade community regarding additions to or removals from content on minimum security criteria on the CBP website or the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT) Trade Compliance Handbook—including a summary and explanation of reasons, modeled on the U.S. International Trade Commission's process for disclosing Harmonized Tariff Schedule modifications—and, separately, to consult on any new requirements added to the handbook. The section further directs the Commissioner to revise the CTPAT Trade Compliance Handbook to include best practices for mitigating risks of importing merchandise produced with forced labor, in consultation with the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force.

This section requires the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), not later than one year after enactment, to (1) review regulations governing deadlines for agency responses to trade community requests, including petitions, protests, requests for advice, and customs rulings; and (2) revise such regulations as appropriate, in consultation with the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee, including by making existing deadlines more expeditious. It further requires the Comptroller General of the United States, not later than one year after enactment, to submit to Congress and make publicly available a report assessing CBP rulings and decisions. The report must include (1) the average annual number and response times for such rulings and decisions (including those before and after applicable deadlines and reasons for delays); (2) a description of the petition and protest processes and applicable timelines; and (3) recommendations for Congress to improve CBP response times.

This section directs the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to develop a system enabling the trade community to quickly access up-to-date contact information for (1) headquarters personnel interacting with the trade community, (2) personnel of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and partner government agencies at ports of entry interacting with the trade community, and (3) personnel of the Centers of Excellence and Expertise (established under 19 U.S.C. 4317 to centralize trade enforcement and facilitation) interacting with the trade community.