ACE eBond: CBP’s Electronic Bond Filing, Types, and Defaults

ACE eBond is the electronic module inside U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) that handles the creation, validation, and ongoing management of customs bonds. It replaced a paper-based process governed by 19 CFR Part 113, and it lets a licensed customs broker transmit bond data through the Automated Broker Interface (ABI) and get a real-time acceptance or rejection from CBP.¹² For an importer, that means the financial security backing a shipment can be confirmed in minutes rather than days, though the legal obligations attached to the bond are just as serious as they ever were on paper.

When You Need a Customs Bond

Nearly every commercial shipment entering the United States requires a customs bond before CBP will release the goods. The bond is a three-party contract guaranteeing that the importer will pay all duties, taxes, and fees owed and comply with every applicable regulation. If the importer fails, CBP collects from the surety company that backed the bond. Without a valid bond on file, CBP will not release merchandise from its custody, and the goods sit at the port.³

The port director can require a bond for a single import transaction or, for businesses that ship regularly, a continuous bond covering all entries over a 12-month period. That choice drives most of the cost and paperwork that follow.

The Three Parties Behind Every eBond

Every customs bond involves three participants. The principal is the importer, carrier, or other party who assumes the legal obligation to comply with customs laws and pay any duties owed. This is typically the importer of record.

The surety is a corporate insurer authorized by the U.S. Department of the Treasury to guarantee the principal’s obligations. Only companies listed on Treasury Department Circular 570 may serve as sureties on federal bonds, and no bond can exceed the dollar limit stated on the current Circular for that surety unless the excess is otherwise protected.⁴⁵

The filing party is usually a licensed customs broker who submits the bond data into ACE on the principal’s behalf through ABI.⁶ Before a broker can file anything for you, the broker needs a valid power of attorney on record.⁷

Getting approved for a bond is not automatic. The surety underwrites the principal the way any insurer evaluates risk. Expect requests for company details, the types of merchandise you import, a signed power of attorney authorizing the bond issuer, a completed CBP Form 301, and potentially financial statements. Importers with a clean compliance history and solid financials pay lower premiums; those with prior violations or thin credit face higher costs or collateral demands.⁸

Continuous Bonds vs. Single Transaction Bonds

Choosing the right bond type is the first decision an importer faces, and it comes down to how often you ship.

Continuous Bonds

A continuous bond covers all of your import transactions for a rolling 12-month period. The bond amount is set at 10 percent of the duties, taxes, and fees you paid during the prior calendar year, rounded to the nearest $10,000, or the nearest $100,000 if your annual duties exceeded $1 million.⁹ The minimum is $50,000 regardless of what the formula produces.¹⁰

First-time importers with no prior duty history use estimated future liabilities to calculate the bond amount, but the $50,000 floor still applies. Annual premiums for a standard $50,000 continuous bond typically run between $250 and $750, depending on the surety’s assessment of the principal. For businesses importing more than a few times a year, this is almost always cheaper than buying individual bonds for each shipment.

Single Transaction Bonds

A single transaction bond (STB) covers one specific shipment. The bond amount must equal at least the total entered value of the merchandise plus all applicable duties, taxes, and fees, with a $100 minimum for any CBP bond.¹⁰ STBs make sense for one-off imports or companies testing a product line before committing to regular importing. Even two or three STBs in a year can exceed the annual premium on a continuous bond.

Required Data for an eBond Filing

The eBond system collects a subset of the data fields on CBP Form 301. Because ACE already stores much of the importer’s profile information, the system avoids collecting the same data twice.¹¹ The key data points include:

The importer of record (IOR) number. For U.S. businesses, this is usually the IRS Employer Identification Number. Sole proprietors can use a Social Security number. Foreign entities without either can apply for a Customs-Assigned Importer Number.¹²
The surety code, a three-digit number identifying the Treasury-authorized surety company backing the bond.
Bond type: continuous or single transaction.
Activity code, indicating what customs activity the bond secures.
Bond amount, entered as the dollar figure that will serve as the limit of liability.

A mismatched IOR number, an expired surety code, or an amount below the required minimum will cause the system to reject the filing.

Bond Activity Codes

CBP assigns different activity codes based on what the bond secures. Each code carries its own bond conditions, minimum amounts, and liquidated damages schedule. The most common are:

Activity Code 1 (Importer or Broker). The standard bond for importing merchandise into U.S. commerce. Covers duties, taxes, redelivery obligations, and compliance with entry documentation requirements.¹³
Activity Code 1a (Drawback Payment Refunds). Required when an importer is approved for accelerated drawback payment. The bond amount equals 100 percent of the estimated accelerated drawback to be claimed, with a $50,000 minimum for continuous bonds.¹⁴
Activity Code 2 (Custodian of Bonded Merchandise). Secures obligations of bonded warehouse operators, container freight stations, and similar facilities.
Activity Code 3 (International Carrier). Covers vessels, vehicles, and aircraft arriving from outside U.S. customs territory.
Activity Code 4 (Foreign Trade Zone Operator). A continuous bond covering the receipt, handling, and disposition of merchandise within a foreign trade zone. Default penalties can reach the full value of the goods, or three times the value for restricted or prohibited merchandise.¹⁵

Selecting the wrong activity code is a common mistake, and it can render your bond invalid for the transaction you need it to cover. Your broker should confirm the correct code before filing.

How the Electronic Submission Works

Once the filing party has the required data, the bond is transmitted through ABI directly into the ACE database. ACE performs an automated check against federal records to confirm the IOR number is valid, the surety code corresponds to an active Treasury-authorized company, and the bond amount meets the minimum for the selected activity code.⁶

The system responds with a disposition code that tells the filer exactly what happened. A successful new bond returns “ENB” (new bond added in ACE). For single transaction bonds, you might see “EAB” (additional STB added), “EUB” (substitution STB added), or “EEB” (superseding STB added). A rejection identifies the specific field that needs correction.¹⁶

This real-time validation means the financial security backing your shipment is confirmed before the goods arrive at the port. ACE maintains a continuous log of every transmission for audit purposes.

Managing and Modifying an Active eBond

An eBond is not a set-and-forget document. Changes in your business, trade volume, or compliance status can all trigger a need to update or replace it.

Electronic Riders

The eBond system currently accepts five types of electronic riders: adding an authorized user, removing an authorized user, adding a reconciliation provision, removing a reconciliation provision, and adding a U.S. Virgin Islands rider. Each is submitted through ABI and returns a confirmation code on acceptance.¹⁶ Changes to the principal’s name or address are handled through ACE account updates rather than bond riders in the electronic environment.¹¹

Bond Termination

Termination timelines depend on who initiates it. If the principal requests termination, the bond becomes inactive 10 business days after CBP receives the written request, or on a later date the principal specifies. If the surety terminates, 30 days is considered reasonable notice, though the surety can argue for a shorter period under special circumstances. In either case, the surety cannot walk away from obligations already incurred under the bond; termination only stops new transactions from being charged against it.¹⁷

Once a bond is terminated, no further customs activity can be conducted until a replacement is filed and accepted. Shipments arriving during that gap will be held.

Bond Sufficiency Reviews

CBP periodically reviews every bond on file. If your import volume grows or duties increase substantially, CBP may determine the existing bond is insufficient. The principal and surety receive written notice and have 15 days to fix the problem, typically by filing a new bond at a higher amount. While the deficiency is unresolved, CBP can require cash deposits or single transaction bonds for every shipment.¹⁸

Even outside the formal review cycle, if a port director sees that a shipment’s duties exceed the continuous bond amount, the director can require a deposit of estimated duties, demand an STB for that shipment, or require a new continuous bond at a higher level before releasing the goods.⁹

A bond can also be flagged insufficient for non-financial reasons. CBP immediately marks a continuous bond as insufficient when mail sent to the principal is returned undeliverable, since the agency has no way to communicate compliance demands. Restoring the bond requires verification documentation to the Surety Bonds and Accounts Team, which typically processes the reinstatement within two business days.¹⁹

What a Bond Default Costs

When a principal fails to meet a bond obligation, CBP does not negotiate the penalty amount case by case. The regulations prescribe specific liquidated damages, and these are built into the bond conditions from the start. For a basic importation bond (Activity Code 1), the most common defaults carry these penalties:²⁰

Failure to pay duties: two times the unpaid duties, taxes, and charges, or $1,000, whichever is greater.
Default involving merchandise, such as failure to redeliver: the value of the merchandise. If the merchandise is restricted, prohibited, or alcoholic beverages, the penalty jumps to three times the value.
Default not involving merchandise: $1,000 per default.
Importer Security Filing violation: $5,000 per violation.
Advance cargo information violation: $5,000 per violation.

Penalties are assessed against the bond, meaning both principal and surety are jointly liable. The redelivery obligation is the one that catches importers off guard most often. If CBP releases your goods conditionally and later discovers a compliance problem, you are legally obligated to bring those goods back within 30 days of release, and failing to do so triggers liquidated damages equal to the full value of the merchandise.¹³

Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Merchandise

The standard 10-percent-of-duties formula does not fully cover goods subject to antidumping (AD) or countervailing duty (CVD) orders. Final duty rates for these goods are determined retroactively, sometimes years after entry, so CBP requires enhanced bonding on top of the normal continuous bond amount.²¹ Importers must also post cash deposits at the time of entry reflecting estimated AD/CVD duties, and file a certificate before liquidation stating whether they received any reimbursement of AD/CVD duties from the foreign seller. Failing to file that certificate creates a presumption of reimbursement and CBP doubles the duties assessed.²² If you import subject merchandise, treat AD/CVD bonding as a separate exercise from your regular eBond setup.

The 2026 Proposed Rule

In February 2026, CBP published a proposed rule to formally codify the eBond process that has been operating as an authorized test under the National Customs Automation Program. The proposal would make ACE the sole authorized system for electronic bond transmission and end the pilot phase.¹¹

The proposed rule would formally eliminate paper-only rider types, including name and address change riders, since that information is maintained elsewhere in ACE. It would also limit electronic riders to the five types already in use: authorized user additions, authorized user deletions, reconciliation additions, reconciliation removals, and U.S. Virgin Islands riders. The rule remains in the proposal stage. Importers and sureties should monitor the Federal Register for the final rule and its effective date.

1
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. ACE: The Import and Export Processing System
2
eCFR. 19 CFR Part 113 – CBP Bonds
3
eCFR. 19 CFR 113.11 – Bond Application
4
Bureau of the Fiscal Service. Department Circular 570 – Companies Holding Certificates of Authority as Acceptable Sureties on Federal Bonds
5
eCFR. 19 CFR Part 113 – CBP Bonds – Section 113.37
6
eCFR. 19 CFR Part 143 Subpart A – Automated Broker Interface
7
eCFR. 19 CFR Part 141 Subpart C – Powers of Attorney
8
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Bonds – How to Obtain a Customs Bond
9
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Customs Directive 3510-004 – Monetary Guidelines for Setting Bond Amounts
10
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Bonds – How Are Continuous and Single Entry Bond Amounts Determined?
11
Federal Register. Electronic Bond Transmission
12
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Importer Numbers
13
eCFR. 19 CFR 113.62 – Basic Importation and Entry Bond Conditions
14
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. A Guide for the Public: How CBP Sets Bond Amounts
15
eCFR. 19 CFR 113.73 – Foreign Trade Zone Operator Bond Conditions
16
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Customs eBond Status Notification
17
eCFR. 19 CFR 113.27 – Effective Dates of Termination of Bond
18
eCFR. 19 CFR 113.13 – Amount of Bond
19
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Insufficient Bonds Related to Returned Mail
20
eCFR. 19 CFR Part 113 Subpart G – CBP Bond Conditions
21
Federal Register. Monetary Guidelines for Setting Bond Amounts for Importations Subject to Enhanced Bonding
22
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Antidumping and Countervailing Duties (AD/CVD) Frequently Asked Questions