CIT Suspends Refund Order as CBP Proposes Administrative Process

On March 6, 2026, in Atmus Filtration, Inc. v. United States, the Court of International Trade (CIT) suspended its earlier order requiring U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to issue refunds of IEEPA duties to all importers of record, regardless of whether they filed suit.  The suspension came after the CIT held a closed conference in which it discussed with the Government the practical limitations of complying with its order.  Those limitations, as well as CBP’s proposed administrative process for administering refunds, was set forth in a declaration submitted by CBP earlier in the day. 
 
CBP’s proposed administrative process, which CBP is attempting to implement in about 45 days, would require importers to certify entries on which duties were paid.  CBP would then validate those certifications and, if it agrees, automatically liquidate or reliquidate entries, and prepare refunds with interest to be sent through CBP’s Automated Commercial Environment (ACE).  This process, however, has certain significant limitations.  Most notably, CBP does not have the power to reliquidate entries more than 90 days after liquidation and, according to CBP, only about a third of entries subject to IEEPA duties remain unliquidated.  As more time passes, more entries become liquidated and cross the 90-day threshold.  Refunds of tariffs paid on those entries likely will need to be sought through the CIT.  In addition, we believe that the Government likely will appeal the CIT’s order.
 
In sum, although CBP has proposed a refund process, there is no guarantee the process will be implemented (given the likelihood of appeal), and even if the refund process is implemented, CBP’s declaration highlights significant limitations on its ability to issue refunds without court intervention.  Due to the ongoing uncertainty regarding what the Government will do and when, our recommendation has not changed: importers of record should secure their rights to IEEPA tariff refunds by filing suit in the CIT.