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  3. ACE and Automated Systems
  4. ACE eBond Processing

ACE eBond Processing

On January 3, 2015, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) launched capabilities in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) to support electronic bond processing for Single Transition Bonds and Continuous Bonds.

eBond is an electronic mechanism for the submission of Customs Bonds from a Surety or Surety Agent to ACE via Electronic Data Interface (EDI) to be stored and used for various downstream processes for which a bond is required. CBP can receive and validate Single Transaction Bonds, Continuous Bonds, and Bond Riders either received electronically from a Surety or Surety Agent, or received through the eBond Portal if sent to the Office of Administration for manual processing. In addition, CBP can now provide status updates electronically to sureties/surety agents and secondary notify parties.

The following chart provides the scenarios where eBond is required effective January 3, 2015:

EBond Processing Graphic

  • All Continuous Bonds must be filed electronically via ACE eBond, or sent to the Office of Administration’s Bond team for input into ACE.
  • Electronic Single Transaction Bonds for ACE Cargo Release and corresponding ACE Entry Summary transactions require an eBond be filed in ACE by either a surety or surety agent electronically, or input by the Office of Administration’s Bond team.
  • Single Transaction Bonds issued for ACS Cargo Release and corresponding ACS or ACE Entry Summary transactions may not be filed in ACE via eBond. ACS Cargo Release and ACS Entry Summary filers may continue to use existing single transaction bond issuing methods today.

Feedback from users on ACE eBond has been extremely positive. In fact, sureties have reported to CBP confirmation of bonds being fully processed in ACE in as little as 30 seconds whereas the turnaround time prior to ACE eBond was three to five business days.

By building eBond, CBP has provided a single mechanism for the centralization of bonds. Other benefits include reduction of paper processing, expedited release of cargo, increased traceability of bonds for audit purposes and expansion of bond issuance to beyond regular business hours.

The following stats were compiled for the first two months of deployment, January and February 2015:

  • 8 surety/surety agents authorized to file bonds are submitting continuous and single transaction bonds to CBP via EDI. The sureties/surety agents currently participating represent over 90% of the CBP Bond market.
  • 21,458 - New Bonds Created in ACE eBond
  • 11,994 - Single Transaction Bonds
  • 9,464 - Continuous Bonds
  • 11,812 - Updates to Legacy Bonds (continuous bonds existing in ACE prior to 1/3/15) via eBond mechanisms
  • 24,696 – eBond Create/Update (CB) messages processed
  • 148,580 – eBond Bond Status (BS) messages generated

For more information on eBond.

Last Modified: Feb 12, 2024