CBP Releases New Bond Guidance Document

On February 13, 2024, CBP issued CSMS # 59402411 advising of "A Guide for the Public. How CBP Sets Bond Amounts", which announces changes to the official procedures to determining bond amounts. According to the CSMS message, The Office of Trade’s Trade Policy and Programs has worked with public stakeholders and multiple government agencies since 2020 to update CBP's internal directive on Monetary Guidelines for Setting Bond Amounts, first issued in 1991, to reflect current policies and procedures. The guidance can be found on CBP's website here.

Given extensive changes in the last 30 years, CBP states that "the guidance serves to address gaps, to clarify what CBP and the trading public are responsible for when setting and maintaining sufficient bond coverage, and make clear what factors are considered by CBP in setting a required bond amount in particular cases."

CBP has provided a summary of changes for easy reference. You can find the summary on CBP's website. A few notable changes are listed below:

• All continuous bonds are set in increments of $10,000 up to $100,000 and then in increments of $100,000 for larger bonds (previously only applied to Activity Code 1 bonds).
• The minimum bond amount for a C3 bond has been increased from $25,000 to $50,000.
• The minimum bond amount for C4 bonds has been increased to $50,000 per FTZ activated location.

Questions related to the updated guidance should be sent to the Office of Trade, Trade Policy and Programs, Drawback and Revenue Branch, at otbond@cbp.dhs.gov.