A CBP Form 28 is a formal request for information about an entry: classification, value, origin, or admissibility. It is not a penalty notice, but a sloppy answer can become one. This post covers what the form is asking, the 30 day clock, and how to build a response that closes the question.
CBP issues a Form 28, Request for Information, when an entry leaves a question open: why this classification, what supports this value, where were these goods made, what shows this product meets a partner agency rule. It is an inquiry, not a finding. Many are closed with a solid documentary answer and no further action.
The risk is in the handling. A missed deadline, a guessed answer, or documents that contradict the entry all convert an inquiry into an audit trail. The form usually allows 30 days to respond, and extensions can be requested, but silence is read as an answer too.
Start with what was actually filed: the entry summary, the commercial invoice, the packing list, and any certificates relied on. The response should explain the entry as made, citing the documents, rather than describing how the brand generally operates. Reviewers compare the answer against the filing line by line.
Where the question is classification, answer with the product facts: materials, construction, function, and the heading analysis that follows from them, ideally supported by the same specification sheets given to the broker. Where it is value, show the payment records. An answer that asserts without attaching is an answer that gets a follow up.
One entry drew the question, but the classification or value method behind it usually sits on dozens of entries. Before responding, pull the entries that share the product and the treatment. If the Form 28 exposes an error, it almost certainly repeats, and the response strategy for one entry should account for the population.
That review is also where a prior disclosure decision gets made. Voluntarily disclosing an error before CBP commences a formal investigation materially reduces penalty exposure, but the sequencing against an open Form 28 needs advice from a customs lawyer or an experienced broker, not improvisation.
Whatever the question was, it found the weak point in the entry workflow: a spec sheet that never reached the broker, a price update that never reached the invoice, a supplier who changed materials unannounced. Close the case, then close that gap in writing, because a second Form 28 on the same point is where inquiries stop being polite.
Keep reading: How do forced labour rules stop DTC shipments at the border, and what evidence clears them?, Split shipments and customs: when one order ships in two boxes, and Customs value declarations: getting the number right first time cover the nearby cases in this series.
The form typically allows 30 days from the date of the request. An extension can be requested from the issuing office, ideally before the deadline passes and with a reason. Missing the deadline without contact is the worst available move.
No. It means CBP has a question about an entry. Many requests close after a documented answer with no penalty and no rate change. Penalties enter the picture when answers are false, careless, or reveal errors that the importer then fails to address.
The importer of record owns the answer, usually working with its customs broker, and with a customs lawyer where the question touches a repeated error or a large entry population. The broker files entries; the legal duty of reasonable care sits with the importer.
Correct it through the available mechanisms, post summary correction or protest depending on the entry status, and take advice on a prior disclosure for the wider population of similar entries. Fixing the one entry CBP asked about while leaving identical entries untouched is a poor strategy.