CBP bond changes in January - What you need to know.
CBP is making changes to key bond programs for ISF and eBond. These changes affect both single transaction and continuous Customs bonds. Here is what you need to know about these changes and what actions you need to take to be ready.
eBond - January 3, 2015
Continuous Bonds: There is no change in how you enter the data to submit to CBP. The changes are on our end, where we will now submit continuous bond applications the way Customs brokers submit entry data; via an electronic flat file.
This change completely automates the underwriting and review process by the bond teams at both IB&M and CBP. In most cases, continuous bonds will be reviewed and approved in a matter of hours instead of the current five to ten days.
These changes do not affect your current underwriting limits and authority with IB&M. Additionally, all existing continuous bonds that are already on file and had been submitted via the current process will be automatically copied to eBond.
e-STB's: The ONLY two entry types that will require an e-STB beginning in January are an ACE (Simplified) entry followed by an ACE Entry Summary or an ACE Entry Summary certified for cargo release. We have updated our website to allow these two e-STB types to be filed through our portal.
All other ACS release entries that require an STB should follow the same paper process currently in use. IB&M will continue operate a dual system of creating both e-STB and paper STBs until November, 2015, when all bonds will need to be filed electronically.
Brokers, sureties and Customs agreed that e-STB's will require some additional fields. These fields will be live in our e-STB portal beginning January 3rd.
To learn more about eBond and the additional e-STB fields, visit CBP's website at this link.
ISF STB's no longer accepted effective January 3rd.
Effective January 3rd, CBP will no longer accept an emailed copy of the ISF single transaction bond. The ISF process remains the same; the only difference is that instead of you emailing a bond copy to Customs, IB&M transmits the bond data elements directly to CBP on your behalf. You will still be able to view all ISF transactions in the history page of your IB&M account.
Late filed ISF's after January 10th are not exempt from the bond requirement.
Effective January 10th, late ISF submissions will no longer be exempt from the bond requirement and most ISF transactions will require a bond when they are filed. To avoid delay or examination upon arrival, importers should ensure that bonds are in place to cover the ISF transaction prior to the cargo being loaded on the vessel destined for the United States.
To electronically enforce this requirement, ISF Types 5 and 6 (Late ISF-10- No Bond and Late ISF-5- No Bond, respectively) will no longer be accepted as of January 10, 2015.
IB&M will continue to be your partner as Customs moves forward with bond automation efforts and ACE feature deployment.
Over the last eighteen months, we have been an active contributor to CBP's design and development of eBond. We are also working with ABI software providers to ensure that the shift from ACS to ACE is as smooth as possible for our customers. Should you or your office ever have a question about what is happening, do not hesitate to contact IB&M for the most current news and information.
All of these changes are documented in the quick links section of our website.
We are committed to continuously communicating with you about the preparations you should make for bond changes within ACE as the November, 2015, deployment approaches.