Importers have different legal obligations to the government than do custodians such as carriers, cartage operators, or warehouse owners who do not own the merchandise they store or transport. When a person makes a claim for drawback under the exporter’s summary procedure or requests accelerated payment of drawback, their obligations to the Government are different from those of the master of a vessel that arrives in the United States from abroad.

An importer’s bond obligations, for example, include paying duties and submitting entry summary documentation in accordance with the law, as well as returning merchandise to the Customs and Border Protection upon a lawful demand.

The basic custodial bond requires that the custodian of bonded merchandise (which would include bonded carriers, bonded warehouse proprietors, duty-free store operators, container freight station operators, and other custodians of merchandise) comply with regulations relating to the receipt, carriage, safekeeping and disposition of bonded merchandise, maintain all records required by regulations relating to such merchandise and produce the records upon demand by a CBP officer.