De Minimis Exception in Trade
Concept International Trade Preferred
Threshold below which a trade rule, duty or remedy does not apply because the amount is too small.
Independent referenceNot an official or legal definition
Sources citedSee the sources at the end of this page
Status Under reviewLast updated 11 October 2026
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Definition
In plain language
A de minimis exception means that very small amounts, such as low-value parcels or tiny subsidies, are exempt from duties or from a rule. The size limit is set in the relevant law or agreement.
Academic definition
De minimis thresholds appear in several WTO agreements: Article 7(8) of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (which entered into force in 2017) encourages members to set a shipment value or dutiable amount below which no duties or taxes are collected on express shipments, Article 5.8 of the Anti-Dumping Agreement terminates an investigation where the dumping margin is below two per cent of the export price, and Article 6.4 of the Agreement on Agriculture exempts product-specific domestic support below five per cent of the value of production for developed countries. Domestic customs laws set their own thresholds, which vary widely and have become contentious with growth of cross-border e-commerce.
Classification
- Term type
- Concept
- Category
- International Trade
- Subject field
- International Trade Law
- Subfield
- Customs and Trade Remedies
- Difficulty level
- Advanced
- Grammatical category
- Latin adjectival phrase
Language variants
- Alternative terms
- de minimis rule
- de minimis threshold
- low-value shipment exemption
- Non-preferred terms
- not_applicable
- Abbreviations
- not_applicable
- Acronyms
- not_applicable
- Native terms
- de minimis (Latin, 'of the least')
- Transliteration
- not_applicable
- Pronunciation
- day MIN-ih-miss
Context
Legal effect: Binding
Scope
Covers thresholds that exempt small amounts from trade rules; broader exceptions such as general exceptions under GATT Article XX and safeguard measures are different.
Legal context
WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement Article 7, Anti-Dumping Agreement Article 5.8, Agreement on Agriculture Article 6.4 and Subsidies Agreement Article 27.10; national customs laws set thresholds for low-value shipments.
Diplomatic context
States negotiate thresholds in trade agreements and some debate whether to lower them to address parcel flows and revenue loss.
Institutional context
Applied by national customs authorities and investigating authorities, and referenced in WTO committees on trade facilitation.
Historical context
The Latin maxim 'de minimis non curat lex' is old, and thresholds in trade law grew in the Uruguay Round agreements of 1994.
Why it matters
Thresholds decide whether small consignments and small subsidies fall inside the rules, which matters for e-commerce and for developing countries.
Usage
Register: Legal
Usage note
State the specific rule being referred to, since each de minimis threshold has its own value and subject matter.
Example
Parcels below the de minimis threshold entered the country without customs duties.
Example scenario
State A exempts imports under a set value from duties and taxes. As online orders surge, State A reviews the threshold, weighing lost revenue against the cost of clearing millions of small parcels.
Common misuse
Treating de minimis as a single global threshold; each agreement and each national law sets its own.
Not to be confused with
- General exceptions (GATT Article XX)
- Safeguard clause
- Tariff-rate quota
Sources
- WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation (2014), World Trade Organization, Article 7. wto.org
- Official definition. not_found_in_source
- Treaty reference. wto.org
- Trebilcock, Howse and Eliason, The Regulation of International Trade. not_found_in_source
- not_found_in_source. not_found_in_source
Source type: Treaty. Source reliability: Primary.
This entry is an independent reference definition, not an official or legally binding text. Where an official definition exists, it is linked above and is authoritative. Read our methodology.
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