A client running a cosmetics brand out of Torrance ships mascara tubes from a contract manufacturer in Shenzhen, forty to sixty cartons a week, each valued under $800. For two years her freight forwarder cleared everything as a standard Section 321 shipment with almost no paperwork. Then one week, three pallets sat at LAX for nine days. The cause wasn’t the product. It was the filing method, and it’s the same mistake we see from a dozen new clients a year: nobody had moved her to Entry Type 86 once her volume and product category made her a target for FDA’s cosmetics compliance program.
Type 86 is a specific way of filing a Section 321 entry through the Automated Commercial Environment. Section 321 itself is the underlying statute, 19 U.S.C. 1321, that lets goods valued at $800 or less enter the United States free of duty and tax, provided one person doesn’t import more than that amount to one address on one day. That threshold used to sit at $200. The Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act raised it to $800 in 2016, and the volume of low-value parcels crossing the border has climbed every year since.
For most of that history, a basic Section 321 shipment could be released with almost no data: a manifest entry, a description, a value, and a consignee. That worked fine until Customs and Border Protection realized it had almost no visibility into what was actually crossing the border in these low-value parcels, and no mechanism to apply Partner Government Agency requirements to them. CBP rolled out the Entry Type 86 Test on September 28, 2019, specifically to close that gap. Type 86 lets an importer or broker file a low-value shipment electronically, with PGA data attached, without triggering the cost and complexity of a formal entry.
Who Actually Needs to File a Type 86 Entry
Not every Section 321 shipment needs Type 86. A carton of phone cases with no regulatory flags can usually still clear on a basic manifest-level Section 321 release. Type 86 becomes necessary, and often mandatory in practice, once a shipment falls into a category that a Partner Government Agency wants visibility into before release. That covers a lot of what small importers in food, cosmetics, apparel, and electronics actually ship: FDA-regulated cosmetics and food-contact packaging, USDA-regulated agricultural byproducts, CPSC-regulated children’s products and electronics, and anything requiring a Lacey Act declaration.
Eligibility runs on three conditions. The shipment’s value can’t exceed $800. It has to belong to one person, importer, or consignee receiving no more than $800 in goods on that calendar day. And the merchandise can’t be subject to antidumping or countervailing duty orders, quota restrictions, or certain excise taxes, because those categories are excluded from de minimis treatment regardless of value. A four-figure order of quota-controlled textiles doesn’t qualify just because a single carton stays under $800; CBP looks at the aggregate exposure, not just the invoice in front of the officer.
Because Type 86 entries are treated as customs business, most of them get filed by a licensed customs broker acting as importer of record, even when the underlying shipment belongs to a marketplace seller or a small brand owner. That’s a meaningful shift from a standard Section 321 release, which can sometimes be filed by the owner, purchaser, or consignee directly. A foreign seller shipping DTC into California doesn’t get to bypass a broker simply because the shipment is small.
The Filing Deadline Changed, and It Catches People Off Guard
Up until February 15, 2024, a Type 86 entry could be filed within 15 days of the cargo’s arrival. CBP tightened that. Entries now have to be filed upon or prior to arrival. We’ve watched this single change generate more holds for existing clients than any other update to the program, because forwarders who built their workflow around a 15-day cushion didn’t rebuild it fast enough. If your broker or software still files Type 86 after the truck has already cleared the port, expect a systemic rejection, not a warning.
CBP has also gotten more aggressive about who gets to keep using the program. In May 2024, the agency suspended multiple customs brokers from the Entry Type 86 Test after finding their filings carried what CBP called unacceptable compliance risk, mostly tied to undervaluation, misclassification, and repeated failure to submit accurate PGA data. Filing volume through Type 86 doesn’t buy goodwill. It buys scrutiny, and a broker with a bad pattern can lose program access for every client on their books, not just the one shipment that triggered the review.
What Happens When PGA Data Is Involved
Type 86 earns its reputation as the more demanding option here. A cosmetics importer filing Type 86 has to submit FDA product code, affirmation of compliance information, and often a Prior Notice confirmation before the shipment can clear. An electronics importer touching CPSC jurisdiction needs a Certificate of Compliance or an exemption code. Miss a required data element, and the entry doesn’t just sit in queue. It gets flagged for manual PGA review, which routinely adds three to ten business days even when the product itself is fully compliant.
We tell clients to think of Type 86 less as a shortcut and more as a formal entry that happens to be duty-free. The duty relief is real, but the data burden is closer to what you’d submit on a Type 01 formal entry than to a bare-bones Section 321 release. Treating it casually, the way a lot of new importers treat any “de minimis” shipment, is exactly how a shipment ends up sitting at the port while a compliance officer waits on a form nobody prepared in advance.
Type 86 vs. Section 321 vs. Formal Entry
| Feature | Section 321 (basic) | Type 86 | Formal Entry (Type 01) |
| Value limit | $800 per person, per day | $800 per person, per day | No limit |
| Duty and tax | None | None | Applies per HTS classification |
| PGA data accepted | No | Yes | Yes |
| Broker required as IOR | Often not | Usually yes | Yes |
| Bond required | No | No | Yes, continuous or single-entry |
| Filing deadline | At manifest | Upon or prior to arrival | Within 15 days of arrival |
| Excluded goods | AD/CVD, quota items | AD/CVD, quota items | None excluded |
| Typical release time | Hours | Same day to a few days, longer with PGA hold | Days, depending on exam status |
The Splitting Trap
We spend more time correcting this than almost any other Section 321 issue: a client splits a $1,400 order into two $700 shipments to the same address on the same day, believing that keeps each parcel under the de minimis line. It doesn’t. CBP evaluates the aggregate value received by one person on one day, not the invoice value of each individual box. Structuring shipments specifically to stay under $800 is treated as a compliance violation, and CBP’s enhanced data visibility under Type 86 makes this pattern far easier to catch than it used to be. If your supplier or 3PL is splitting orders as a matter of routine practice, that’s not a workaround. It’s an audit target with your company’s name on it.
What a Broker Should Actually Check Before Filing
A broker who understands your catalog doesn’t wait for a hold to figure out which SKUs carry PGA exposure. Before we ever file the first Type 86 entry for a new client, we run the product list against three questions: does the item or its packaging touch an FDA-regulated category like cosmetics, food-contact material, or dietary ingredients; does it fall under a CPSC standard for children’s products, electrical safety, or flammability; and does the country of origin or component sourcing put it anywhere near an active antidumping or countervailing duty order. That review takes an afternoon. Skipping it costs a week at the port the first time a shipment gets flagged.
We also check something importers rarely think about on their own: whether their current freight forwarder or 3PL is even capable of transmitting Type 86-compliant manifest data in the first place. Some smaller consolidators still route everything through basic Section 321 manifest filings because their systems were never built to carry PGA fields. If that’s the case, the fix isn’t a better broker relationship after the fact, it’s moving the freight before the next PO ships, not after CBP forces the issue with a detention.
Where This Is Headed
CBP has signaled plans to merge the Entry Type 86 Test with the Section 321 Data Pilot into a single program the agency is calling the Enhanced Entry Process, with tighter data collection requirements across the board. The direction is consistent: less of the old anonymous, manifest-only Section 321 release, and more entries that look like Type 86 whether importers like it or not. Businesses still running high parcel volume through basic Section 321 filings should assume that flexibility narrows further, not the other way around.
If your import program touches FDA-regulated goods, review whether your broker is already filing Type 86 proactively for those SKUs, rather than waiting for CBP to force the issue with a hold. The clients who avoid port delays are the ones whose broker classified their catalog by PGA exposure before the first container ever left the origin port, not after the third one gets pulled for exam.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I split one large order into several packages to stay under the $800 threshold? No. CBP looks at the total value one person receives at one address on one calendar day, not the value printed on each box. Splitting shipments to avoid duty is treated as a violation, not a legitimate use of de minimis.
Does a Type 86 entry exempt my goods from Section 301 or IEEPA tariffs? No. De minimis treatment removes ordinary duty and tax on qualifying low-value shipments, but goods subject to antidumping, countervailing duty, or certain other trade remedy actions are excluded from Section 321 entirely, regardless of the entry type used.
What happens if I file Type 86 without the required PGA data? The entry gets flagged for manual review by the relevant Partner Government Agency instead of releasing automatically. Depending on the agency and the completeness of the follow-up submission, that can add anywhere from a few days to several weeks.
Is Type 86 mandatory for every low-value shipment? No. It’s a voluntary test program. A shipment with no PGA exposure can often still clear on a basic Section 321 manifest release. Type 86 becomes the practical requirement once PGA data needs to accompany the entry.
Can a foreign seller act as importer of record on a Type 86 entry? Type 86 entries are considered customs business, so most are filed with a licensed broker as importer of record, even for shipments technically owned by a foreign marketplace seller.
What triggers a CPSC hold on an electronics or toy shipment filed under Type 86? Missing or inconsistent Certificate of Compliance data, an unrecognized CPSC product code, or a mismatch between the product description and the HTS classification submitted with the entry.
My forwarder filed the Type 86 entry after the container already cleared the terminal. Is that a problem? Yes. Since February 15, 2024, Type 86 entries must be filed upon or prior to arrival. A late filing is treated as a compliance failure, not a formality, and can result in the entry being rejected outright.
Can my broker lose access to file Type 86 entries? Yes. CBP has suspended brokers from the program for patterns of undervaluation, misclassification, or incomplete PGA submissions. If your broker loses program access, every one of your shipments moves to a slower filing method until that’s resolved.
Ready to find out whether your catalog is being cleared the slow way? Book a free consultation and we’ll walk through your SKUs against current PGA and Type 86 requirements before your next shipment leaves origin.