CBP says CAPE Phase 3 deploys on October 6, 2026. It covers finally liquidated entries, but only entries "filed by plaintiffs for which the Court has ordered reliquidation." If your company is not a plaintiff in an IEEPA refund case at the Court of International Trade (CIT), Phase 3 does not open anything for you. For a finally liquidated entry, your options are still a timely protest or a court action.
This post is written as of Tuesday, September 29, 2026, one week before the deployment date.
What CBP has said about Phase 3, and when
The only primary statement of the Phase 3 date we could find is a sworn declaration. Brandon Lord, Executive Director of CBP's Trade Programs Directorate, filed it on September 15, 2026 in Freestyle World, Inc. v. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CIT Court No. 26-01088). Paragraph 8 reads in full:
"CBP will deploy CAPE Phase 3, which covers finally liquidated entries filed by plaintiffs for which the Court has ordered reliquidation, on October 6, 2026. Plaintiffs who submitted a valid importer of record number to CBP by July 30, 2026, will be able to file CAPE declarations for Phase 3 as of October 6, 2026. CBP will provide additional instructions regarding CAPE Phase 3 to the plaintiffs who provided an importer of record number after July 30, 2026."
Three things follow from that paragraph. Phase 3 is not live as of this writing. Its scope is set by court order, not by entry type. And the October 6 start applies only to plaintiffs whose importer of record (IOR) number reached CBP by July 30. Later submitters are promised "additional instructions," with no date attached.
CBP's public IEEPA Duty Refunds page, last modified September 2, 2026, does not mention Phase 3 by name. It lists finally liquidated entries among the categories CBP "is evaluating ... in subsequent deployments of CAPE, in accordance with appropriate statutory authority or court order." That page is still the rulebook for the phases already running. Check it again after October 6. CBP may publish Phase 3 filing rules there or in a CSMS (Cargo Systems Messaging Service) message.
What "finally liquidated" means, and why CAPE turned these entries away
Liquidation is CBP's final calculation of the duties owed on an entry. After it, CBP's power to reopen the entry on its own is limited. Under 19 U.S.C. § 1501, CBP may reliquidate "within ninety days from the date of the original liquidation." Once that window closes, the liquidation is final unless someone has challenged it in time.
CAPE (Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries) is the functionality CBP built into ACE, its Automated Commercial Environment, to refund IEEPA duties in bulk. CAPE accepts entries liquidated within the preceding 80 days, which leaves CBP ten days to process and reliquidate before day 90. CBP's refunds page lists "Entries for which liquidation is final" as ineligible.
Judge Richard K. Eaton's order of July 17, 2026 defines the term. "Finally liquidated entries" are entries "liquidated for more than 90 days and are thus beyond the period for reliquidation set out in 19 U.S.C. § 1501." The same order describes the government's position: "a court order directing the reliquidation of entries, whose liquidation has become final, would be necessary to provide the Government with the authority to reliquidate" them.
That position explains both why Phase 3 exists and why it is limited. CBP can reach a finally liquidated entry through CAPE only where a court order gives it authority.
Where Phase 3 comes from: the July 17 reliquidation order
The order is captioned In re Tariffs Collected in Reliance on International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The copy we reviewed is docketed in CIT Court No. 26-00219 (Doc. 10, filed July 21, 2026). It notes that importers' IEEPA refund suits "now number in excess of 3,700 cases." The operative paragraph directs that CBP:
"shall reliquidate, without regard to IEEPA duties, any and all of Plaintiffs' entries that have been liquidated for more than 80 days and on which Plaintiffs made estimated deposits pursuant to IEEPA."
The order sets two conditions. First, reliquidation depends on plaintiffs' counsel submitting the plaintiffs' IOR numbers to CBP, following CBP's instructions. Second, reliquidation happens "only following U.S. Customs and Border Protection's acceptance of Plaintiffs' CAPE declarations." So even in a case covered by the order, the refund still goes through a CAPE declaration and CBP's review. Nothing is automatic.
The order also includes some practical details:
- Counsel receives the instructions. They go to plaintiffs' counsel, and "Plaintiffs need not take any further action in order to receive these instructions."
- More than one declaration is allowed, "particularly for entries that become finally liquidated subsequent to the filing of the initial declaration."
- It is an order, not a judgment. Judge Eaton wrote that this lets plaintiffs who need further help move to lift the stay on their case and seek reconsideration, within the deadlines in the USCIT Rules.
Who Phase 3 is for
Based on the declaration and the order, Phase 3 fits an importer that meets all three of these conditions:
- It is a plaintiff in a CIT IEEPA refund case that is covered by a reliquidation order.
- It has entries liquidated more than 80 days ago on which it made IEEPA estimated deposits.
- Its counsel submitted a valid IOR number to CBP. If that happened by July 30, 2026, it can file on October 6. If it happened later, it waits for CBP's further instructions.
If all three are true, use the week before October 6 to prepare. Pull the list of finally liquidated entries that carry IEEPA Chapter 99 lines. Confirm with counsel that CBP accepted your IOR submission as valid, and check that ACH refund details are on file.
Don't skip the ACH check. The Lord declaration reports that as of September 11, 2026, 20,184 refunds totaling about $1.3 billion had not been sent to Treasury. The reason given was that the importer of record or its Form 4811 designee had not provided ACH account information.
We have not seen published CBP guidance on who may submit a Phase 3 declaration, or on whether it uses the same file template as earlier phases. Settle both with counsel before launch day.
Who Phase 3 is not for
Importers that are not plaintiffs. On October 6, a non-plaintiff's finally liquidated entry is in exactly the same position it was in on October 5. Phase 3 depends on a court having ordered reliquidation of a plaintiff's entries. CBP's refunds page ties future deployments to "appropriate statutory authority or court order." Neither document suggests that non-plaintiffs will get access.
AD/CVD entries, as a category. As of the September 2 page update, certain entries subject to antidumping or countervailing duties (AD/CVD) are still on CBP's list of categories being evaluated. CBP has published no deployment and no date for them, and Phase 3 is not an AD/CVD phase. If a plaintiff's finally liquidated entry also carries AD/CVD, ask counsel how CBP will treat it. CBP has not said publicly.
Entries still inside 80 days of liquidation. These don't need Phase 3. If the entry type qualifies, they belong on a regular CAPE declaration now. Every day you wait brings an entry closer to day 80, after which CAPE will not accept it.
Entries with a reconciliation already on file. CBP's page places these in future phases. They are also separate from the reconciliation-flagged add-on that the Lord declaration confirms went live June 29, 2026. That add-on covers flagged entries where no reconciliation entry (type 09) has been filed yet.
If you are not a plaintiff: the two routes that exist
A protest under 19 U.S.C. § 1514
Under 19 U.S.C. § 1514(a), CBP decisions, including "the liquidation or reliquidation of an entry," are "final and conclusive upon all persons" unless a protest is filed or a CIT action is started on time. Section 1514(c)(3) sets the protest window at "within 180 days after but not before" the liquidation date.
Here is how the clocks line up for a single entry, using our own arithmetic. Say an entry liquidated on June 1, 2026. It reached day 80 around August 20, and CAPE stopped accepting it then. CBP's 90-day authority under § 1501 ran out around August 30. The 180-day protest window runs until about November 28, 2026. So as of today, that entry can't go into CAPE but can still be protested. Work from the actual liquidation date in ACE, not from this example.
Be clear about what CBP has and has not said. Its refunds page names a protest as the way to dispute a refund decision made through CAPE, and as the route for non-IEEPA issues after CAPE reliquidation. It does not say a protest is how CBP will refund IEEPA duties on an older entry. CBP also won't accept an entry on a CAPE declaration while that entry has an open or suspended protest. Weigh that tradeoff with counsel, entry by entry.
An action in the Court of International Trade
28 U.S.C. § 2636 sets the time limits for filing at the CIT. Under § 2636(a), a suit contesting a denied protest must generally be filed "within one hundred and eighty days after the date of mailing of notice of denial." Under § 2636(i), an action under the court's residual jurisdiction, 28 U.S.C. § 1581(i), must be brought "within two years after the cause of action first accrues."
Which of those provisions applies to your claim, and when the claim "first accrues," are legal questions for a trade attorney. We are a customs broker, not a law firm. Neither the July 17 order nor the Lord declaration says whether an importer that files suit now would receive the same reliquidation order, or when. Ask counsel that question directly.
What to do this week, before October 6
If you are a plaintiff:
- Confirm with counsel when your IOR number went to CBP and whether CBP accepted it as valid. That tells you whether you file on October 6 or wait for further instructions.
- Build the entry list now. Plan to add entries that become final later, since the order allows more than one declaration.
- Check that ACH refund information is on file for the IOR or its Form 4811 designee.
If you are not a plaintiff:
- Pull liquidation dates from ACE for every entry that carried IEEPA duties. Our IEEPA refund deadline tracker walks through building that inventory.
- Put every entry in one of three groups:
- Unliquidated or within 80 days of liquidation: CAPE now, if the entry type qualifies.
- Past 80 days but inside 180: a protest decision.
- Past 180 days: a question for counsel.
- Don't hold anything in the first group waiting for Phase 3. Phase 3 will never apply to those entries, and their CAPE window keeps closing.
- If you are considering a CIT action, bring counsel your entry list and liquidation dates. Our post on CIT orders on IEEPA refunds covers how the court got here.
The inventory may also turn up non-IEEPA errors on entries that haven't liquidated yet, such as classification or valuation mistakes. A Post Summary Correction (PSC) is the ordinary tool for fixing those. Our Post Summary Corrections service runs $150 per PSC entry, covering up to 10 lines. That work is separate from the IEEPA refund, which goes through CAPE.
No. CBP's September 15, 2026 declaration says Phase 3 covers finally liquidated entries "filed by plaintiffs for which the Court has ordered reliquidation." A non-plaintiff's finally liquidated entry falls outside both Phase 1 and Phase 3. The routes that remain are a timely protest or a CIT action.
Our counsel submitted our IOR number in August. Can we file on October 6?
The declaration gives October 6 access only to plaintiffs who submitted a valid IOR number by July 30, 2026. For later submitters, CBP says it "will provide additional instructions." As of September 29, 2026, CBP has not given a date for those.
Does Phase 3 cover AD/CVD entries?
Not as a category. As of its September 2, 2026 page update, CBP lists certain AD/CVD entries among the categories it is still evaluating, with no deployment date. Phase 3 is defined by court order, not by entry type.
Is it too late for my older entries?
It depends on each entry's liquidation date. Under 19 U.S.C. § 1514(c)(3), a protest is due within 180 days after liquidation. The CIT deadlines in 28 U.S.C. § 2636 depend on which kind of action applies. Check the dates in ACE before you assume an entry is either lost or safe.
How we help
We work with importers in four modes. For Phase 3 and finally liquidated entries, here is what each one covers:
- Consult. We sort your IEEPA entries by route (CAPE now, protest window, or counsel) using your ACE liquidation data, and we flag every date that is close.
- Comply. We prepare the entry inventory and check your ACH refund setup, so your counsel or the filer of record starts from a clean list.
- Clear. We keep your current entries moving while the refund work runs, with full brokerage at $100–$250 per entry.
- Automate. If your team wants to own its routine filings and see its own liquidation dates in ACE, self-filing runs $30 per entry.
We don't file CIT actions or give legal advice, and we can't predict what CBP will accept or pay on any declaration. What we can do is help make sure no entry misses its deadline because nobody checked the date. For a second look at your IEEPA entries, start with our IEEPA and CAPE refund review or talk to our team.
Sources:
- Declaration of Brandon Lord, Freestyle World, Inc. v. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, CIT No. 26-01088, Doc. 50 (filed Sept. 15, 2026)
- Order, In re Tariffs Collected in Reliance on IEEPA (Eaton, J., July 17, 2026), as docketed in CIT No. 26-00219, Doc. 10 (copy hosted by Thompson Hine)
- CBP, International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) Duty Refunds (last modified Sept. 2, 2026)
- 19 U.S.C. § 1501
- 19 U.S.C. § 1514
- 28 U.S.C. § 2636