On May 26, 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) filed an updated declaration in Euro-Notions Florida, Inc. v. United States, Ct. No. 25-00595 (CIT), describing the agency's progress in administering refunds of IEEPA duties through its new Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) functionality in ACE. The declaration of Brandon Lord, Executive Director of CBP's Trade Programs Directorate, reports meaningful progress but concedes a significant prior misstatement of refund figures. The full status report is available here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/phw7bs6lab483d4hla4ra/20260526-Lord-status-report.pdf?rlkey=qglb9m26hcgb186nhx8avbnkj&dl=0
According to the May 26, 2026 declaration of Brandon Lord, as of May 22, 2026 approximately $85 billion in potential and certified IEEPA refunds had been accepted for processing through CAPE, and roughly $20.6 billion (duties plus interest) had already been certified by CBP and transmitted to Treasury for disbursement. The declaration also concedes that CBP's earlier May 12, 2026 anticipated-refund figure was overstated by approximately $10 billion due to an "inadvertent error in the data query" — the correct number should have been about $25.46 billion, not $35.46 billion.
Judge Eaton Orders the Commissioner to Appear. Separately, Judge Richard K. Eaton has ordered the Commissioner of CBP to appear personally before the Court of International Trade to explain the agency's administration of the refund program. That order signals that the court views the prior misstatement and the overall pace and accuracy of refunds as serious enough to require accountability at the top of the agency, rather than through staff-level declarations alone. The Commissioner can expect to be questioned on (i) the cause of the $10 billion data-query error, (ii) the internal controls now in place to prevent recurrence, (iii) CAPE's performance and the reasons for failed validations and outstanding refunds, and (iv) CBP's plan to ensure all eligible importers receive timely duty and interest refunds in compliance with the court's prior orders.
What Importers Should Do. Importers with significant IEEPA exposure should (1) confirm that all eligible entries have been or will be covered by a CAPE declaration within CBP's 90-day reliquidation window, (2) verify that Chapter 99 HTSUS coding and other entry data align with CAPE validation requirements, (3) ensure ACH banking information and any CBP Form 4811 designations are current so that completed refunds reach Treasury without delay, and (4) continue to monitor the Euro-Notions docket as Judge Eaton's hearing with the Commissioner approaches, since further court directives are possible.
We will continue to track CBP's CAPE reporting and the court's oversight of the refund program, and will update this blog as additional declarations, orders, and the Commissioner's appearance develop the record.