Customs Delays Mail Rule Patient Groups Say Could Cut Off Canadian Medicines

The Trump administration on Wednesday delayed a customs rule that patient advocates warned could make it much harder for Americans to buy lower-cost prescription drugs by mail from Canada and other countries.

Customs and Border Protection said it was pushing back the mandatory date for a new entry process for international postal shipments by 90 days, from Oct. 22 to Jan. 20, 2027. Under the change, packages subject to certain tariffs or regulated by other federal agencies, including medicines, would have to be filed electronically through a new informal entry process, with more detailed information supplied before they arrive. Shipments that are not filed that way would require a formal entry. Until the new date, current procedures stay in place.

The requirement grows out of an interim rule issued in June that suspended the so-called de minimis exemption, which had allowed packages valued under $800 to clear customs with little scrutiny. The administration says the crackdown is aimed at illegal goods, especially opioids, arriving in low-value packages whose shippers typically paid no tariffs and supplied no tracking data. “These requirements will close gaps that have been exploited by criminals to smuggle contraband sent through international mail,” said Susan S. Thomas, a senior agency official. Customs officials said the extra time would let importers, brokers and shipping companies update their systems and avoid disrupting certain postal shipments.

Patient advocacy groups and dozens of members of Congress had urged the administration to reconsider, arguing that the rule could have unintended consequences for people who rely on licensed international pharmacies to afford their medications. The added customs review and paperwork, they warned, could sharply reduce shipments of medicine from Canada and elsewhere.

Importing prescription drugs for personal use is technically illegal in most cases, but the Food and Drug Administration has long declined to enforce the ban against individuals. Many Americans order from abroad because the same medicines often cost far less in other countries.

The delay is a reprieve, not a reversal. The underlying rule remains in force, and the agency proposed on Oct. 8 to extend the same entry and data requirements to nearly all international mail packages other than letters and flat envelopes.

Both sides have serious arguments. Law enforcement officials point to a long-standing gap in the mail system that has let opioids and other contraband slip into the country in small parcels. Patient advocates counter that a rule written to stop smugglers should not end up blocking legitimate medicines for people who cannot afford American prices, and the delay gives both sides three more months to make their case.

The agency encouraged filers to begin using the new process voluntarily during the transition.