A New Disclosure Era Begins for Every U.S. Importer
On September 2, 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection published one of the most consequential customs rulemaking notices in recent memory. CBP announced an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking titled "Heightened Import Disclosures for Supply Chain Visibility," designed to improve visibility into the supply chains of goods imported into the United States. This is not yet a final rule — but the direction of travel is unmistakable, and every importer, manufacturer, and freight service provider needs to start preparing now. The comment deadline is firm, the questions are specific, and the enforcement teeth written into the underlying executive order are real.
What Triggered This Rulemaking
On June 3, 2026, the President signed Executive Order 14411, entitled "Strengthening Customs Enforcement." Section 1 of the order emphasizes the importance of customs enforcement for purposes of national security, foreign policy, and the economy of the United States. That order did not merely call for better paperwork. It requires enhanced eligibility, bonding, disclosure, and vetting standards for importers of record, and calls for stronger supply-chain documentation, annual transparency reporting, increased audits, and tougher penalties for forced labor, undervaluation, misclassification, and illegal transshipment violations.
The executive order directed the Department of Homeland Security to translate those policy goals into actionable regulations. Today's ANPRM is the first formal step in that process. The order is the latest indication that tariffs and customs enforcement remain central to the administration's economic, trade, and national security agenda, reinforcing the mechanisms through which CBP can collect and enforce duties while equipping the Trade Fraud Task Force with enhanced tools to target misclassification, undervaluation, and illegal transshipment.
The Three Pillars of What CBP Is Proposing
CBP is seeking comments on new requirements enhancing visibility into the parties involved in the importation of goods; integrating innovative technical solutions for the tracing of supply chains of those goods; and collecting foreign export documentation that foreign exporters are required to submit to the foreign customs authority prior to the exportation of those goods to the United States.
Breaking those three pillars down into plain language reveals the scope of the potential change.
Pillar One: Foreign Export Documentation
CBP's questions address potential changes including requiring importers to submit or retain documents that exporters provide to foreign customs authorities, including export declarations, commercial invoices, packing lists, certificates of origin, export licenses or permits, and transport documents. In practice, this means an American importer would need to obtain and preserve the paperwork that its overseas supplier files with its own government before the goods ever leave the factory floor. That is a fundamentally new burden for most importers, who today are primarily responsible only for the accuracy of their own U.S. entry filings.
Pillar Two: Expanded Party Identification
CBP is considering requirements for identifying supply chain parties and implementing technology-enabled traceability. The heightened requirements are expected to include disclosing certain foreign tax and global business identifiers, and providing detailed information about the imported good's supply chain and production methods, such as the manufacturer's product identifier — for example, a model or style number — or key specifications such as composition, grade, or size. For importers sourcing through multiple tiers of suppliers, identifying every intermediary in a complex global supply chain will require systematic supplier mapping that many companies have never undertaken.
Pillar Three: Technology-Enabled Traceability
CBP is not prescribing a specific technology platform, but the ANPRM makes clear that digital traceability solutions are central to the agency's vision. These projects are intended to lay the foundation for ACE 2.0, CBP's current effort to modernize the Automated Commercial Environment, enabling CBP to better identify high-risk imports, increase supply chain transparency, verify compliance, and ensure appropriate revenue collection. CBP is asking importers to describe what tracing technologies they currently use and how quickly they could implement new solutions — feedback that will directly shape whatever regulations eventually emerge from this process.
Why CBP Is Acting Now
With these proposals, CBP seeks to more effectively detect and interdict illicit importations, especially those that are illegally transshipped to evade compliance with U.S. customs and trade laws. Transshipment fraud — routing goods through a third country to disguise their true origin and escape tariffs — has surged alongside the wave of new tariffs applied to China and other countries over the past two years. The agency has made clear it views better supply chain documentation as its most scalable tool for combating the practice.
Pursuant to Executive Order 14411, importers of record and licensed customs brokers acting on their behalf are already required to ensure that information submitted on CBP Form 5106 is accurate, complete, and updated as needed. CBP has published a Federal Register notice announcing that, beginning 30 days after publication, CBP may immediately void an associated importer of record number and take other appropriate enforcement actions if CBP determines that the Form 5106 information is inaccurate or incomplete. The new ANPRM is the next layer on top of this already-active enforcement framework.
This Is an ANPRM — But Do Not Underestimate It
CBP has released an advance notice of proposed rulemaking that could reshape the information importers must collect, verify, and provide for goods entering the United States. The distinction between an ANPRM and a final rule matters: CBP has not proposed regulatory text; instead, the agency asks 64 questions that may shape a later proposed rule. CBP seeks information on current business practices, available technology, compliance costs, implementation timelines, and potential impacts on companies and their customers.
This stage of the rulemaking process is actually the most important moment for importers to engage. The 64 questions CBP is asking will determine how ambitious, how technically prescriptive, and how costly the eventual rule will be. The comments received in response to this ANPRM will be used, potentially, to draft a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which would propose regulations to implement these proposals. The most useful comments are those that answer the specific questions posed, provide reasons and data in support of any views, describe current practices and technology in use to address issues of supply chain visibility, and address how the proposals would affect the commenter, their company, and their clientele.
Industry counsel advises that companies that may comment should begin collecting operational data, implementation timelines, and cost estimates now. That window is short: comments must be received on or before December 1, 2026.
What Importers Should Do Before December 1
The ANPRM touches every link in the import chain. Acting now — well before the comment deadline — puts your business in the strongest possible position whether you intend to file comments, prepare for compliance, or both.
Audit your supplier documentation chain
Start by mapping every tier of your supply chain and asking whether you could, today, obtain the foreign export documentation your suppliers file with their home customs authority. If the answer is no for any significant product line, that is the first gap to close.
Assess your party-identification records
Confirm that classification, valuation, country-of-origin, forced-labor, supply-chain, and product-specification data are complete, supportable, and consistent across commercial, logistics, and customs records, should CBP request such information. Any inconsistency between what is on a commercial invoice, a bill of lading, and a CBP entry filing is a red flag under the new framework.
Review importer-of-record arrangements
U.S. companies that serve as importer of record for affiliates, suppliers, customers, or foreign principals should assess whether those arrangements could create affiliate-based scrutiny or liability for inaccurate or incomplete supplier-provided information.
Evaluate technology readiness
CBP will ask whether your current systems can support digital traceability. Companies that can demonstrate existing investment in supply chain visibility platforms — electronic purchase order management, digital certificates of origin, or structured supplier portals — will be better positioned in both their comment filings and eventual compliance responses.
Engage through the formal comment process
Submit comments at regulations.gov under docket number USCBP-2026-1058. The public may submit comments through the Federal Rulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov under that docket number. Comments grounded in specific operational data — actual costs, system timelines, examples of practical challenges — carry the most weight with rulemakers.
How ASR Can Help
Navigating a rulemaking of this scope requires coordination across your entire import operation — from supplier contracts abroad to entry filings in the United States. ASR WorldWide Express works with experienced, licensed customs broker partners who are tracking this ANPRM closely and can help you assess where your current documentation practices may fall short of the emerging requirements. Whether you need a supply chain documentation audit, guidance on how to structure your comment submission, or a broader compliance review of your import program, our team is ready to assist.
Call us at +1 786 373 3003 or email shipping@asrwe.com to schedule a consultation before the December 1 deadline approaches.
Important Disclaimer
This article is published for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, regulatory, or customs advice. The CBP ANPRM discussed here has not yet resulted in proposed or final regulatory text, and the requirements described may change substantially before any rule takes effect. Importers should consult a licensed customs broker or qualified trade attorney to assess how the proposed framework may affect their specific operations and to prepare any formal comments to CBP.
