A senate bill aims to place US e-commerce imports under greater scrutiny to tackle shipments containing illegal and counterfeit products.
The bipartisan Fighting Illicit Goods, Helping Trustworthy Importers, and Netting Gains (FIGHTING) for America Act was proposed by five senators last week in response to the quadrupling of the number of e-commerce shipments from the likes of Shein and Temu over recent years.
They argue that the volume of e-commerce goods being imported into the US is making it harder for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to monitor shipments.
The bill says the retailers are “abusing” the de minimis system that allows packages worth less than $800 to enter the country tariff free. It will need to pass both the Senate and House before it heads to the president to be signed off.
“As the volume of packages has increased, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has struggled to effectively target shipments and keep out packages containing illicit drugs, counterfeits, products made with forced labour and other goods that violate US law,” the five senators said.
The bill would bar certain categories of products from being imported through de minimis, including: Goods designated as “import-sensitive” such as textiles, apparel and leather goods; goods subject to anti-dumping or countervailing duties; goods subject to tariffs imposed related to Section 301, Section 232, or Section 201 investigation; and other types of goods that CBP has…
