This bill amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to expand the scope and types of information U.S. Customs and Border Protection can share with stakeholders regarding suspected intellectual property rights violations.
Charles "Chuck" Grassley
Senator
IA
This bill amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to broaden the scope of information U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) can share with rights holders and other interested parties regarding suspected intellectual property violations. It expands the types of evidence that can be disclosed—including packaging images and nonpublic data from third-party logistics and marketplace entities—to better combat the importation of counterfeit goods. Additionally, the legislation establishes new notification requirements for the disclosure of nonpublic information to ensure regulatory transparency.
CBP Information Sharing Expansion: New Trade Bill Targets Counterfeits with Broader Data Access
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is looking to overhaul how it handles suspected counterfeit goods by significantly expanding the data it can share with private companies. Amending Section 628A of the Tariff Act of 1930, this bill shifts the legal threshold for sharing information from a general 'suspicion' to 'reasonable suspicion.' More importantly, it allows CBP to hand over not just photos of the product itself, but images of packing materials, shipping containers, and nonpublic data sourced from online marketplaces and freight forwarders. If you’re a small business owner selling unique designs online or a logistics manager at a shipping hub, this means the government could soon be sharing your internal shipping details or marketplace data with third parties to verify if a shipment is legit.
Opening the Digital Shipping Container
Under current rules, if CBP thinks a pair of sneakers is fake, they can share details about the shoes. This bill blows the doors off that limitation. CBP would be authorized to share nonpublic information generated by 'express consignment operators' (think FedEx or UPS) and 'online marketplaces' (like eBay or Amazon). For a local boutique owner importing specialized inventory, this means sensitive business data—like who exactly is manufacturing your goods or how they are being routed—could be handed over to a brand name competitor who claims an 'interest' in the merchandise. While the bill requires CBP to notify the person whose information is being shared, the actual rules for that notification are still waiting to be written by the Secretary of the Treasury.
Who Gets a Look at the Data?
One of the most significant shifts is who gets to see this information. Previously, data was shared with the 'right holder'—the company that owns the trademark or patent. This bill allows the Commissioner of CBP to share data with 'any other party' they determine has an interest in the merchandise. This is a bit like a digital 'open house' where the government decides who has a seat at the table. For a legitimate importer, this creates a risk: if a shipment is flagged under the broad 'reasonable suspicion' standard (which is notoriously flexible), your proprietary shipping methods or packaging secrets could end up in the hands of a wide array of 'interested' parties before you’ve even had a chance to prove the goods are real.
The Cost of Catching Fakes
The goal here is to stop the flood of knockoffs that undercut honest businesses and occasionally put consumers at risk. By letting brand owners see the actual shipping containers and marketplace data, they can better track down the factories producing fakes. However, for the average shopper, there’s a potential 'hidden tax.' If freight forwarders and online platforms have to build new systems to manage this data sharing or deal with the fallout of leaked nonpublic info, those costs usually trickle down to the price of your next online order. It’s a classic trade-off: more aggressive policing of intellectual property versus the privacy and cost-efficiency of the modern global supply chain.