Insufficient bonds
Since July, 2005, the Revenue Division, Office of Finance has worked diligently to obtain corrected, valid addresses whenever the U.S. Postal Service returns mail to CBP as ‘undeliverable’. Currently, the Revenue Division policy in this area is as follows: Upon receipt of mail returned as ‘undeliverable’ by the U.S. Postal Service, the Revenue Division renders the continuous bond insufficient immediately. The Trade Community may have the continuous bond returned to sufficient status by complying with the instructions posted at: http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/trade/priority_trade/revenue/bonds/pilot_program/insufficient_bonds.xml.
The sudden, unexpected insufficiency of the continuous bond can create a significant disruption to import activity. In response to numerous requests from the Trade Community, the Revenue Division will test a program beginning in February, 2009 whereby sureties receive advance notice of pending bond insufficiencies.
Beginning on February 3rd, the Revenue Division will post information about continuous bonds scheduled to be rendered insufficient to the surety’s Business Activity Log (BAL) in ACE. Any surety with ACE portal account access will be able to access these postings. These postings will be made available no less than two full weeks prior to the listed bonds being rendered insufficient. This will afford the Trade Community the chance to proactively rectify whatever issues threaten the sufficiency of the continuous bond (whether the problem is related to returned mail, or some other issue).
Each posting to the BAL will provide specific information about the underlying problem(s) impacting the bond, as well as outline the process to correct these problems. The Trade Community is strongly encouraged to work closely with their surety to receive notification of any pending issues which may impact their continuous bond sufficiency. Failure to receive those notifications, or to promptly take the necessary corrective actions, will lead to the insufficiency of the continuous bond.
At this time, the Revenue Division has agreed to test this process for at least 45 days. The Revenue Division estimates that there will be 6 – 8 separate BAL postings during that period. Based in large part on the results of this test, the Revenue Division will determine the effectiveness of this process and decide whether to permanently adopt this procedure.
If you have any questions about this notice, please contact Supervisory Section Chief Casey Horn at (317) 614-4484 or via email at Casey.Horn@dhs.gov.