The Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 was signed into law by President Obama on Feb. 24, 2016. The bill did not get a lot of attention outside of Washington but it brings significant positive changes. The new law is intended to modernize and speed up the customs clearance process in the United States.

What does this mean to ordinary citizen like me? Effective March 10, 2016 the duty-free limit for goods imported to the U.S. has been raised from $200 to $800.Before this bill, tourists returning from international trips could carry back up to $800 worth of merchandise duty free. But if they shipped those exact same goods, only the first $200 was duty free. The bill fixes this anomaly and simplifies the import process, which is good for United States to compete globally.

For the full information about the new Customs bill, go tohttps://rules.house.gov/sites/republicans.rules.house.gov/files/114/PDF/114-HR644-SxS.pdf