CBP to Test Process Giving Sureties Advance Notice in ACE of Pending Bond Insufficiencies
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS message announcing that beginning on February 3, 2009, its Revenue Division will post information about continuous bonds scheduled to be rendered insufficient to the surety's Business Activity Log (BAL) in ACE, as part of a test process that will last at least 45 days.
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(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 may have the continuous bond returned to sufficient status by complying with the instructions posted on CBP's Web site. CBP notes that the sudden, unexpected insufficiency of the continuous bond can create a significant disruption to import activity. CBP is testing this new process in response to numerous requests from the trade.)
ACE Sureties Can Access Bond Insufficiency Notices Two Weeks in Advance
Beginning on February 3, 2009, 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 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. According to CBP, the trade is strongly encouraged to work closely with their surety to receive notification of any pending issues that 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.
Test Process to Last at Least 45 Days
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.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 07/30/08 news, 08073005, for BP summary of CBP instructions for continuous bonds rendered insufficient due to a bad address.
See ITT's Online Archives or 11/20/08 news, 08112005, for BP summary of CBP announcing new procedures for terminating and replacing continuous bonds.)
CBP contact- Casey Horn (317) 614-4484 or Casey.Horn@dhs.gov
CSMS 09-000069 (dated 01/30/09) available at http://apps.cbp.gov/csms/viewmssg.asp?Recid=17455&page=&srch_argv=09-000069&srchtype=all&btype=&sortby=&sby
(CBP also issued a CSMS message on this test process which contained insufficient information. CSMS 09-000068, dated 01/30/09, available at http://apps.cbp.gov/csms/viewmssg.asp?Recid=17454&page=&srch_argv=09-000068&srchtype=Seq_Msg_Num&btype=&sortby=&sby)