U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a reminder that the one-year period for participants to transition out of the In-Bond Export Consolidator program expires Feb. 11.
The IBEC program was established as a pilot in 1986 to resolve conflicts between customs regulations and a practice whereby non-vessel-operating common carriers, non-aircraft operating common carriers, exporters, and other freight consolidators would receive individual shipments into their facilities for consolidation prior to exportation. In 1998, in an effort to maintain procedural and regulatory control over the bonded freight for export, Customs created the IBEC bond to cover the consolidation, cartage, transportation, and exportation of in-bond merchandise in the agency’s custody. Today the IBEC bond is also known as the Activity Code 14 bond and there are 194 active IBEC bond holders operating within the Miami Seaport and Port Everglades ports of entry.
CBP announced in February 2022 that it was terminating the IBEC program because it has made it more challenging to ensure that the custody and manipulation of merchandise complies with regulations such as 19 CFR 19.11(e) and 125.41(a). However, IBEC bonds executed prior to Feb. 11, 2022, may continue to be used to secure activities until Feb. 11, 2023.
CBP is now reminding program participants (including facilities and the operators who manage them) that intend to continue their operations that they have until Feb. 11 to transition their facility status to a customs bonded warehouse, container freight station, foreign-trade zone, or facility operated as a non-vessel operating common carrier, depending on their business needs, and to obtain the appropriate bond(s).
For more information on utilizing in-bond capabilities or responding to in-bond enforcement measures, please contact attorney Lenny Feldman at (305) 894-1011.
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