Am I A Bear

In-Bonds Shipments: A Security Vulnerability Waiting to be Exploited

In-bond shipments to and within the United States are shipments that are not intended to enter the commerce of the United States and, therefore, do not bear the requirement of payment of the appropriate import duties and taxes required under the law.

To ensure the US collects its duties in case an in-bond shipment does enter the commerce of the United States, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) requires the posting of an import bond as security to guarantee payment. Bonded cargo is carried in sealed containers or trailers. Ordinarily, these conveyances with their cargo have a final destination outside the United States, but can transit through the United States to a border port of export or to a US seaport for export.

In-bonds also could have a temporary destination in the United States but not technically within CBP’s jurisdiction in the United States, such as destinations in a Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) or bonded warehouses.

For merchandise eventually entered into the commerce of the United States, an importer may have a “single transaction bond (STB)” for a single customs transaction or a continuous bond for successive transactions used for bonded refining warehouses, like smelting warehouses.

In-bonds classified as transportation and exportation (T&E) bonds, are bonded goods that must transit from one port of entry to a port of export. In-transit (IT) bonds can be used for the movement of bonded cargo to internal ports of entry such as Dallas, St. Louis or Charlotte where they are cleared and any obligated duties and fees are paid. Even the container’s transport and handling must be done by a bonded carrier.

All these bonds are surety or indemnity bonds that ensures CBP the payment of the scheduled duty listed in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule should the goods be lost, misdirected or fail to arrive at the port of export, bonded warehouse or foreign trade zone - or illegally entered into US commerce.

Given the nature of "in-bond" shipments transiting the United State, there is no government monitoring of its movement, or accessibility to the cargo. In 2008, I wrote about the vulnerability of this practice and the lack of oversight by CBP and the resulting security and fraud risks of this system.

Tenn. black bear saved from jar stuck on its head - WAVE 3 News ...

NEWPORT, Tenn. (AP) - A black bear is back in the woods in Tennessee after getting help with a problem - a plastic jar stuck on its head.

State wildlife officers looked for the bear for three weeks after reports he was caught in the jug. The Knoxville News Sentinel said the male bear was roaming around Newport, in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.

On July 17, wildlife officer Shelly Hammonds was checking another report of the bear when the animal ran in front of her vehicle. Hammonds fired a tranquillizer dart and the bear collapsed in downtown Newport.

The bear weighed just 115 pounds, about half its expected weight. It was released into the Cherokee National Forest. Wildlife officials believe the bear got into the jar while foraging through garbage.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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