CAPE Phase 3 Is Live, and the CIT Certified a Broad Refund Class Two Days Later
On Tuesday, October 6, 2026, CBP deployed Phase 3 of the CAPE refund system, the piece that handles finally liquidated entries for plaintiffs. On Thursday, October 8, the Court of International Trade granted class certification in Freestyle World v. United States, the lead IEEPA refund case. The two events are connected, because Phase 3 is the only CAPE route for finally liquidated entries, and the class ruling is the first sign that route might widen.
This post covers what Phase 3 does, where the refund numbers stand, what the entry rejections show, and what the class ruling does and does not settle.
Phase 3 is live
CBP’s declaration, filed October 6 in response to a September 17 court order, says Phase 3 was deployed at 5:10 a.m. Eastern. It covers finally liquidated entries filed by plaintiffs for which the court has ordered reliquidation. After deployment, CBP emailed counsel for the plaintiffs who submitted a valid importer of record number by July 30, 2026, to say they could start filing Phase 3 declarations. Plaintiffs who provided a number after that date will receive additional instructions.
By noon on launch day, 477 Phase 3 declarations had been accepted for processing, covering 425,517 entries. Phase 3 was originally scheduled for August 20, was delayed while CBP built new validations, and was then reset to October 6.
Where the numbers stand
As of 3 p.m. ET on October 2, 297,887 CAPE declarations had been submitted and 209,262 passed the file validations, covering 27.4 million entries. Of those entries, 21.19 million have been liquidated or reliquidated without IEEPA duties. CBP reports about $136.6 billion in potential and certified refunds accepted for processing, and about $126 billion already certified and sent to Treasury. The government has put total IEEPA collections at roughly $166 billion.
The stuck-refund figure has moved. 20,362 refunds totaling about $1.1 billion have not reached Treasury because ACH account information has not been provided by the importer of record or its Form 4811 designee. That is down from $1.3 billion in September, although the number of refunds is slightly higher. The cause is the same as before, and the fix is the same: confirm the ACH Refund Authorization in the ACE Importer sub-account.
The 6.2 million entries that failed
The declaration also reports that 6.2 million entries on CAPE declarations failed the entry-level validations. CBP names three primary reasons. The entry date is past its 90-day reliquidation authority. The entry does not contain a Chapter 99 HTS number used to assess IEEPA duties. Or the entry was already filed on a prior CAPE declaration. Failing a validation does not mean a claim is dead, but each of those reasons is worth checking against your own rejects. The first one is the finally liquidated category that Phase 3 now handles for plaintiffs.
Thursday’s class certification
The CIT’s opinion in Freestyle World, Inc. v. United States, 2026 CIT 123, dated October 8, grants the plaintiff’s motion for class certification and appointment of class counsel. The plaintiff filed the case as a class action on February 19, 2026, and it became the lead IEEPA refund case after the earlier lead plaintiff dismissed its suit. The government had opposed certification, among other arguments on timeliness, and the opinion finds the motion timely. Law360 reports that the class is broad and that the judge said he hopes it will ensure all of the tariffs are refunded.
The reason this matters is structural. The government has argued on appeal that the CIT cannot order relief for importers who never sued, relying on Trump v. CASA. Class members are parties to the case, so relief for a certified class does not run into that objection in the same way. That is why law firms called certification the most viable path for non-litigants.
The court set a closed conference for October 13 and directed the parties to confer and jointly submit a filing by October 22.
What we do not know yet
The class definition, how a class member would actually receive a refund, and whether any fees or notice requirements apply were not yet widely reported when this was written. Law firms tracking the case had expected the government to appeal any certification, and the separate Federal Circuit appeal of the universal refund order was still pending in mid-September with no argument date announced. A certified class is a significant step. It is not a refund.
What to do now
If you are a plaintiff, confirm that your importer of record number was submitted to CBP, note whether it was before or after July 30, and watch for CBP’s instructions through your counsel.
If you have finally liquidated entries and did not sue, nothing in Thursday’s ruling tells you to stop thinking about a protective filing. Some deadlines under the CIT’s residual jurisdiction run as early as February 2027, according to law firm analysis. Read the opinion with your trade counsel and ask how it affects your specific entries and deadlines.
For everyone, confirm ACH setup and review your CAPE rejects.
We are helping clients check CAPE status, ACH registration, and entry rejections, and we are following the class proceedings. Reach out to your ShipTech account manager for a review of your situation.