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De minimis
De minimis is a legal doctrine by which a court refuses to consider trifling matters. The name of the doctrine is a Latin expression meaning "pertaining to minimal things" or "with trifles", normally in the terms de minimis non curat praetor ('the praetor does not concern himself with trifles') or de minimis non curat lex ('the law does not concern itself with trifles'). Queen Christina of Sweden (r. 1633–1654) favoured the similar Latin adage, aquila non capit muscās ('the eagle does not catch flies').
The general term has come to have a variety of specialized meanings in various contexts as shown below, which indicate that beneath a certain low level a quantity is regarded as trivial, and treated commensurately.
The legal history of de minimis dates back to the 15th century in the civil law, although there are earlier antecedents. It was incorporated into David Dudley Field's Maxims of Jurisprudence of New York by the 1800s which was later exported by migrants such as John Chilton Burch to newer US states such as California by the 1870s and Montana by the 1890s—as well as to other states such as North Dakota.
The de minimis threshold (also de minimis trade rule or de minimis exemption) is the value of a shipment that can be imported without payment of customs duties (import tariffs) or taxes (such as the value-added tax in the EU).
In recent years, countries have been reviewing their tax and duty-free exemptions so as to avoid providing an advantage to low-value imports. For example, the European Union and South Africa have proposed the elimination of duty-free de minimis exemptions. Since 2021, there has been no de minimis exemption for imports from value-added tax in the EU.
In the United States, the de minimis import threshold was raised to $800 from $200 per person per day in 2016 to facilitate trade and to save on enforcement costs. The change meant the U.S. had one of the highest de minimis levels in the world. By comparison, in 2024 the duty-free threshold was $673 in Australia, $166 in the EU, and $71 in Japan (measured in U.S. dollars).
In September 2024, the U.S. began taking action following an "exponential" increase in the number of de minimis shipments over the previous decade, from approximately 140 million to over one billion a year. The surge in de minimis shipments was largely attributed to the rise of direct-to-consumer e-commerce platforms, particularly those based in China such as Shein and Temu. According to a congressional report, Shein and Temu paid no import duties in 2022, while brick and mortar rivals H&M and Gap paid $205 million and $700 million, respectively.
New regulations introduced under the Biden administration required additional data (such as the identity of the person claiming the exemption, and the 10-digit tariff classification number) and excluded products subject to tariffs under Sections 201 (mostly solar panels), 232 (steel and aluminum), and 301 (includes textiles, apparel and footwear) from de minimis treatment. Section 301 tariffs covered approximately 70% of textile and apparel imports from China and the U.S. believed the changes would greatly reduce shipments.
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De minimis
De minimis is a legal doctrine by which a court refuses to consider trifling matters. The name of the doctrine is a Latin expression meaning "pertaining to minimal things" or "with trifles", normally in the terms de minimis non curat praetor ('the praetor does not concern himself with trifles') or de minimis non curat lex ('the law does not concern itself with trifles'). Queen Christina of Sweden (r. 1633–1654) favoured the similar Latin adage, aquila non capit muscās ('the eagle does not catch flies').
The general term has come to have a variety of specialized meanings in various contexts as shown below, which indicate that beneath a certain low level a quantity is regarded as trivial, and treated commensurately.
The legal history of de minimis dates back to the 15th century in the civil law, although there are earlier antecedents. It was incorporated into David Dudley Field's Maxims of Jurisprudence of New York by the 1800s which was later exported by migrants such as John Chilton Burch to newer US states such as California by the 1870s and Montana by the 1890s—as well as to other states such as North Dakota.
The de minimis threshold (also de minimis trade rule or de minimis exemption) is the value of a shipment that can be imported without payment of customs duties (import tariffs) or taxes (such as the value-added tax in the EU).
In recent years, countries have been reviewing their tax and duty-free exemptions so as to avoid providing an advantage to low-value imports. For example, the European Union and South Africa have proposed the elimination of duty-free de minimis exemptions. Since 2021, there has been no de minimis exemption for imports from value-added tax in the EU.
In the United States, the de minimis import threshold was raised to $800 from $200 per person per day in 2016 to facilitate trade and to save on enforcement costs. The change meant the U.S. had one of the highest de minimis levels in the world. By comparison, in 2024 the duty-free threshold was $673 in Australia, $166 in the EU, and $71 in Japan (measured in U.S. dollars).
In September 2024, the U.S. began taking action following an "exponential" increase in the number of de minimis shipments over the previous decade, from approximately 140 million to over one billion a year. The surge in de minimis shipments was largely attributed to the rise of direct-to-consumer e-commerce platforms, particularly those based in China such as Shein and Temu. According to a congressional report, Shein and Temu paid no import duties in 2022, while brick and mortar rivals H&M and Gap paid $205 million and $700 million, respectively.
New regulations introduced under the Biden administration required additional data (such as the identity of the person claiming the exemption, and the 10-digit tariff classification number) and excluded products subject to tariffs under Sections 201 (mostly solar panels), 232 (steel and aluminum), and 301 (includes textiles, apparel and footwear) from de minimis treatment. Section 301 tariffs covered approximately 70% of textile and apparel imports from China and the U.S. believed the changes would greatly reduce shipments.