From 5 January, Not Every US Importer Can Clear Its Own Cloth. Check Which Kind You Are

What CBP published

The document is headed Heightened Requirements for Foreign Importers of Record. It was published in the Federal Register on 6 November 2026 at 91 FR 69978, as CBP Decision 26-19 under docket USCBP-2026-1387, and CBP says it follows Section 2 of Executive Order 14411, Strengthening Customs Enforcement.

It is an interim final rule, which is the part that matters. Unlike the September notice on foreign export documents, covered in our post on that consultation, this is not a question CBP is asking. It takes effect on 5 January 2027. Comments are open until the same day, so it can still be changed, but nothing in the rule waits for them. Customs brokers may ask before 5 January for more time on their own new duties, and all brokers must comply fully by 6 May 2027.

Who counts as a US importer of record

The rule creates a new Part 110 in the US customs regulations with a definition that did not exist before. A US importer of record is either a US citizen or lawful permanent resident, or an entity organised under US law and located in the United States that keeps, at all times, one of two things: at least 51 percent of its beneficial owners being US citizens or permanent residents who control it, or direct ownership of a significant amount of unencumbered real property in the United States.

Everyone else is a foreign importer of record. That is a higher bar than the old idea of a nonresident importer, which only meant a company not incorporated in the United States. Under the new definition a company can be incorporated in Delaware and still be foreign, if its owners are not US persons and it holds no significant US property.

CBP can check the declaration. The rule lists what it may look at, including whether the principal place of business is in the United States, whether the company pays staff, earns revenue or runs shops there, whether it holds physical assets there (cash in a US bank, US Treasury bonds, property, inventory, machinery or equipment physically in the country), whether its sales generally exceed its cost of goods, whether it is adequately capitalised, and whether it is an instrumentality of a foreign manufacturer without a substantial US presence. Beneficial owner follows a definition close to the one used by the US Treasury's FinCEN: a natural person who exercises substantial control or owns at least 25 percent, traced through any number of layers of holding companies.

What changes for each kind

The new limits apply to goods entered for consumption on a formal entry, and to informal entries filed on CBP Form 3461 or 7501, which the rule says means informal entry types 11, 12 and 13 as well as all formal entry types. A commercial fabric consignment is almost always a formal entry. Within that scope:

• A US importer of record must declare that it qualifies as one, at the time of filing the entry and the entry summary. If it uses a customs broker that is not CTPAT validated, the broker must name it and declare on its behalf, and it must have a CBP Form 5106 on file.
• A foreign importer of record that is itself validated under CTPAT, the Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, can make entry or hire any licensed broker, as now.
• A foreign importer of record that is not CTPAT validated must use a licensed customs broker that is CTPAT validated, either to make the entry or to act as importer of record itself. A licensed broker without that validation can no longer file for it.
• Where the party on the broker's power of attorney is not the owner or purchaser of the goods, the CTPAT validated broker must act as importer of record.
• Brokers must verify a client's status from records such as corporate charters, proof of citizenship or residence, financial statements and title documents, keep that verification for five years, and stop filing for a client who turns out to be foreign if the broker is not CTPAT validated.
• An importer that declares itself a US importer of record and is not one can be put on live entry, meaning duties are paid before release, and can lose immediate delivery.

Why CBP says it is doing this

The rule's case is unpaid duty. CBP reports that, as of 6 February 2026, non-CTPAT foreign importers of record owed about 1.02 billion dollars on open bills, and that the average open bill for a non-CTPAT foreign importer was 68,763 dollars against 2,501 dollars for a CTPAT validated one. A foreign importer whose assets are outside the country is hard to collect from, and a shell company can be replaced by a new one. The new definitions are written around assets CBP can reach.

Where this touches a fabric order from India

We agree shipping terms per export enquiry, and the terms usually quoted on fabric are FOB, CFR and CIF, set out in our guide to Incoterms for fabric. Under all three the buyer, or the buyer's nominee, is the importer of record in the United States, so for most US buyers the change is the new declaration and a broker asking for ownership records it may never have asked for before. That is paperwork, not a new duty.

Three kinds of buyer should look harder. A US company owned or controlled mainly by people who are not US citizens or permanent residents, and without significant US property, may now be a foreign importer of record even though it is incorporated and trading in the United States. A buyer who uses a sourcing agent or another company as importer of record should ask which kind that party is. And a buyer who asks a supplier to ship on DDP terms, so that the supplier clears the goods, is asking a foreign company to be the importer: under the new rule that works only with CTPAT validation or a CTPAT validated broker. We do not offer DDP as standard, and this rule is one more reason to agree it specifically rather than assume it.

Timing is the practical point. Cloth woven and shipped on an order placed in November is likely to reach a US port after 5 January. The rule applies at entry, not at order, so check your status and your broker's CTPAT validation now rather than when the containers are on the water.

None of this changes the duty rate on Indian goods, which we covered in our post on the US midterms, or what has to be declared about the cloth. For the import steps themselves, see how to import uniform fabric from India. To plan a programme around arrival dates, Request Catalog and tell us your port and the date you need the cloth.

What we would check before 5 January

• Ask your customs broker in writing whether you qualify as a US importer of record under the new Part 110, and what records it will want to see.
• If you may be a foreign importer of record, confirm that your broker is CTPAT validated, or that you are, before your next shipment is due to land.
• If someone else is importer of record for your goods, ask them the same two questions.
• If you have been relying on a supplier to clear goods on DDP terms, settle before shipment who will be importer of record from 5 January.
• If you want to comment, the docket is USCBP-2026-1387 on regulations.gov, and comments close on 5 January 2027.