CUSTOMS LITIGATION | 2026-09-17

CBP Confirms CAPE Phase 3 Will Launch October 6, 2026: What California Importers With Liquidated Entries Need to Do Now

In a declaration filed with the U.S. Court of International Trade on September 15, 2026, CBP set October 6 as the deployment date for the phase of its refund system that finally reaches entries liquidated more than 80 days ago — the group holding the largest unpaid IEEPA balances.

For most of 2026, importers whose entries had already finally liquidated have watched IEEPA refunds flow to everyone else. CBP has confirmed that changes on October 6, 2026, when Phase 3 of the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries system deploys. But the agency's position that only importers with a case already pending at the Court of International Trade may use Phase 3 remains the subject of active litigation, and that unresolved question is what decides whether a California im

Update, September 24, 2026: CBP has confirmed that CAPE Phase 3 opens on October 6, 2026. For the current process from the Court of International Trade complaint to the ACH refund, read CAPE Phase 3 Step by Step.

CBP Sets October 6, 2026 for the Phase Importers Have Been Waiting For

On September 15, 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection stated in a declaration filed with the U.S. Court of International Trade that Phase 3 of its Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries system — CAPE — will deploy on October 6, 2026. Phase 3 is the part of the refund architecture that reaches entries which have been liquidated for more than 80 days.

That 80-day marker matters more than it sounds. CAPE Phase 1 was built around CBP's 90-day window to voluntarily reliquidate an entry, with a short cushion so the agency could finish the work inside that window. Entries that passed the window fell outside the self-service refund path, and for much of this year their holders had no administrative route at all. Phase 3 is the first mechanism aimed squarely at that group.

The balances involved are substantial. CBP's own figures from late August 2026 (as of August 21) put roughly $132.5 billion in IEEPA duties accepted into CAPE for processing, with approximately $106.6 billion completed and sent to the Treasury for disbursement; CBP's September 15, 2026 declaration to the court updated those totals. The remainder is concentrated in the harder cases — and finally liquidated entries make up a large share of it.

Where the Refund Right Comes From

The refunds exist because of a Supreme Court decision. On February 20, 2026, in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump — consolidated with Trump v. V.O.S. Selections, Inc. — the Court held that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the President to impose tariffs. The holding was statutory, not constitutional: the Court read IEEPA and concluded the tariff power was never in it.

The consequence for importers is straightforward in principle. Duties collected under an authority that did not exist are refundable, with interest. The difficulty has never been the entitlement. It has been the plumbing: which entries are still procedurally open, and through which door.

The Litigation That Decides Who Can Actually Use Phase 3

CBP has taken the position that only an importer of record with an IEEPA tariff refund case already pending before the Court of International Trade may participate in Phase 3. That position is not settled law. It remains subject to ongoing litigation, and it is the single most consequential open question for any importer sitting on liquidated entries.

The court has already moved in this area. On July 15, 2026, the Court of International Trade directed that CBP reliquidate certain finally liquidated entries ahead of the Phase 3 rollout, with the order to be entered across roughly 3,700 IEEPA cases then before the court. That is a large number of individual actions, and it reflects how many importers concluded that filing was the safer course.

The practical reading is uncomfortable but clear: if CBP's position holds, importers who never filed will not be able to use Phase 3 for finally liquidated entries, and their claims will depend on later litigation or on the outcome of the government's appeals. Our discussion of that path is set out on our IEEPA refund CIT litigation page.

The Three Clocks Every Importer Should Know

Every deadline in this area runs from the date an entry liquidated, not from the date duties were paid. Three windows matter:

Day 0 to roughly 80 — CAPE self-service

Entries that are unliquidated or recently liquidated can be handled through the CAPE refund process without litigation. This is the cheapest and fastest route.

Day 0 to 180 — administrative protest

Under 19 U.S.C. § 1514, an importer has 180 days from liquidation to protest CBP's decision. A timely protest preserves the claim even after the CAPE window has closed. We cover the mechanics on our CBP protest page.

Past day 180 — the courthouse

Once the protest window closes, liquidation becomes final and CBP loses the ability to reopen the entry on its own. At that point an action at the Court of International Trade is the remaining route. A fuller timeline appears on our IEEPA refund timeline page.

Congress Has Noticed the Delays

On September 9, 2026, members of Congress urged CBP to address the administrative delays affecting refunds of duties already determined to be owed back to importers. The pressure is a useful signal, but it is not a substitute for a filing. Legislative attention does not toll a statutory deadline, and no importer should treat congressional interest as a reason to wait.

The Quiet Problem: Approved Refunds Nobody Can Pay

A significant amount of money has been approved and still has not moved. Roughly $1.7 billion across more than 22,000 refunds has been held up because the importers involved have no valid ACH banking details registered in their ACE accounts. CBP issues these refunds electronically; without current banking information in ACE, an approved refund simply sits.

This is the least expensive problem on the list to fix and one of the most commonly overlooked. Before the October 6 launch, every importer expecting a refund should confirm that its ACE account contains accurate, current ACH details and that the importer of record number on file is correct.

What California Importers Should Do Before October 6

The window between now and the Phase 3 launch is short, and the work is mostly diagnostic:

Pull your liquidation dates. Eligibility is decided entry by entry, by date. An importer with entries spread across a year will often find several different doors open at once.

Identify which entries are finally liquidated. These are the entries Phase 3 targets, and the ones where the pending-case question matters most.

Check whether a protest window is still open. Where an entry liquidated within the last 180 days, a protest may still preserve the claim without litigation.

Verify ACE and ACH data. An approved refund with no valid banking details on file does not arrive.

Assess whether filing is warranted. Where the duty amounts are significant and the entries are finally liquidated, the cost of an action has to be weighed against the risk of being outside Phase 3 entirely if CBP's position is upheld. Eligibility questions are covered on our refund eligibility page, and the background of the decision itself on our Supreme Court IEEPA refund page.

How Trembach Law Works These Matters

Trembach Law represents importers of record, customs brokers, manufacturers, and distributors in IEEPA refund recovery — from reviewing entry data and filing protests through actions at the U.S. Court of International Trade. Attorney Anatolii Trembach is admitted to practice before the Court of International Trade, which means a matter does not have to be handed to other counsel if it moves from an administrative filing into litigation.

The firm serves importers at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and nationwide; the Court of International Trade is a national court, so location is not a limitation on representation.

Related pages: IEEPA Refund CIT Litigation · Refund Eligibility · CBP Protest · Refund Timeline

This article is for general information and is not legal advice. Whether any particular entry is eligible for a refund, and which procedure applies, depends on the specific facts of that entry and on litigation that remains unresolved. No outcome is guaranteed.

Contact Trembach Law Firm at (818) 514-7680 for a confidential consultation.

Trembach Law Firm | 27001 Agoura Road, Suite 350, Calabasas, CA 91301