9/15/26 — CBP Confirms CAPE Phase 3 Will Open October 6

CBP has announced a date for CAPE Phase 3.

In a declaration filed with the Court of International Trade on September 15, 2026, Brandon Lord, Executive Director of CBP’s Trade Programs Directorate, stated that Phase 3 of the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) system will launch on October 6, 2026. In Lord’s words: “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.” Phase 3 covers finally liquidated entries subject to IEEPA duties (entries more than 80 days past liquidation) for importers who filed suit at the CIT and obtained reliquidation relief.

The date ends a delay CBP has been explaining to the court since August. On August 19, the agency told the court it could not launch Phase 3 and offered no opening date. On August 25, Lord attributed the delay to new validations designed to ensure that no duty adjustments other than IEEPA refunds are made to refunds on finally liquidated entries.

This October 6 access is limited to litigation plaintiffs whose importer of record submissions were submitted by counsel of record to CBP by July 30, 2026; later IOR submissions gain CAPE access on CBP’s biweekly cadence rather than on opening day.

Also note that Phase 3 eligibility appears to carry the same entry-level requirements as Phase 1, so entries covered by an open or suspended protest may still be rejected, due to the manual processing otherwise required against protests (where the IEEPA refund issues may overlap with other legal claims). Importers who filed protective protests on finally liquidated entries before CBP announced how those entries would be handled should think through the consequences and sequencing of any protest withdrawals.