C.A. Shea & Company, Inc.

Terminating a Customs Bond

While many other lines of insurance can be terminated on any day the client chooses, Customs bonds require sufficient advance notice and some forethought before being cancelled. The two most common ways to terminate a Customs bond is by a request from the principal, or at the request of the surety. When a principal would … Read more

Acting Quickly with Sufficiency Letters

Customs periodically monitors the sufficiency of active bonds they have on file. If Customs finds that an active Importer bond is not sufficient based on the import activity of the principal, they will provide a sufficiency notice to the principal requiring the bond to be rewritten at a higher amount. When sending this notice to … Read more

Making Changes to a Bond

The easiest and most common way to make a change to any bond is to file a rider, however, Customs only permits changes through four (4) specific riders. Changes not defined by these riders require the bond to be rewritten. Riders available to change the information on the bond are: an Address change rider, a … Read more

What is an Importer Bond?

An importer bond, or Activity Code 1, is the most common type of Customs bond. This type of bond allows an importer of merchandise to bring their goods into the United States. The bond guarantees that the entry paperwork is filed correctly by the principal or principal’s customs broker and the appropriate amount of duties, … Read more

Customs and Border Protection Revises Liquidated Damage Practices for Late Files and Mitigation Formulas

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is in the process of making significant changes to its disposition of liquidated damage claims. One such change is to the amount CBP will assess upon mitigation of an initial claim for liquidated damages, upon receipt of a petition seeking relief and/or demonstrating the existence of mitigating factors. Preliminary indications … Read more

What is a Single Entry Bond?

A single entry bond (or single transaction bond) is a one-time use bond. Customs will accept single entry Importer bonds, Drawback bonds and International Carrier bonds. The most common single entry bond is the Importer bond. This type of bond can be used if the principal has an entry that must be cleared and does … Read more