CBP Makes Copper Smelt and Cast Reporting a Hard Stop — Starting September 14, 2026 ACE Rejects Any Entry Summary on Four Cable and Wire HTS Codes That Omits the Country of Smelt and Country of Cast
U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued CSMS #69711865 on August 31, 2026 announcing that beginning Monday, September 14, 2026, the Automated Commercial Environment will start rejecting entry summaries where the copper primary country of smelt and country of cast are not reported. The reporting requirement itself is not new — CBP deployed it to production on July 30, 2026 under CSMS #69252300 as part of the Section 232 copper program — but until now a missing declaration produced a warning rather than a rejection. From September 14 the F794 "ADDTNL DEC TYPE RQRD FOR ARTICLE" message becomes a fatal error, meaning the entry summary will not be accepted at all until the data is added. The four HTSUS subheadings in scope, 8544.42.10, 8544.42.20, 8544.42.90 and 8544.49.10, are the classifications used for insulated electrical conductors — charging cables, power cords, extension cords and similar wire goods that a large number of Amazon sellers import.
Real-World Impact
Exactly four HTSUS subheadings are in scope. Before September 14, 2026 an entry summary line on one of those codes without the smelt and cast record generated a non-fatal F794 message and still moved forward; on and after September 14 the same filing is rejected. CBP's message describes no partial-acceptance path and no dollar threshold — the trigger is the tariff classification, not the value of the shipment.
Key Points
- CBP issued CSMS #69711865 on August 31, 2026; the change takes effect Monday, September 14, 2026
- From that date ACE will reject entry summaries where the copper primary country of smelt and the country of cast are not reported — CBP describes the F794 "ADDTNL DEC TYPE RQRD FOR ARTICLE" message as becoming a fatal version of the error when the required record is not submitted
- Four HTSUS subheadings are in scope: 8544.42.10, 8544.42.20, 8544.42.90 and 8544.49.10
- Importers must report the primary country of smelt and the country of cast; a secondary country of smelt is optional
- The requirement applies to imports from all countries except the United States
- If the primary country of smelt, secondary country of smelt, or country of cast is not known, CBP permits importers to report "OTH" (other) rather than leaving the field blank
- The underlying reporting requirement was issued earlier under CSMS #69252300 on July 15, 2026 and deployed to production on July 30, 2026 — September 14 changes the enforcement, not the data elements
- CBP directs entry summary questions to the Entry Summary, Accounts and Revenue Division at esar@cbp.dhs.gov
What You Should Do Now
- 1Pull your HTS classifications and check whether any of your SKUs enter under 8544.42.10, 8544.42.20, 8544.42.90 or 8544.49.10 — cables and cords are the products most likely to be affected
- 2If any do, ask your supplier now for the primary country of smelt and country of cast for the copper used, and get it in writing so it can be reused on future entries
- 3Confirm with your customs broker that they are already populating the smelt and cast record on your entries, and ask whether they have seen F794 messages on your recent filings — those are the entries that would have been rejected after September 14
- 4Where the supplier genuinely cannot identify the smelt or cast country, tell your broker to report "OTH" rather than omitting the field — CBP explicitly allows it, and a blank is what triggers the rejection
- 5Build a buffer into inbound timing for shipments arriving mid-September: a rejected entry summary has to be corrected and refiled, which delays release and can push an FBA shipment past its inbound appointment