Customs bonds under 19 CFR Part 113: continuous vs. single transaction, amounts, riders, and insufficient-bond consequences

Bonds are the exam’s quiet category: no single question type dominates the way GRI does classification, but a bond fact anchors questions across broker compliance, entry, drawback, and special entry types alike. Every one of those categories eventually asks “and what secures that obligation,” and the answer is almost always a bond governed by 19 CFR Part 113. This guide covers the two bond types, who has to post one, how CBP sets and reviews the amount, what a rider is, and what happens when a bond falls short. For where Part 113 sits among the other Parts, see the corpus map; the glossary defines entry summary and customs broker.

What is a customs bond, and why does CBP require one?

A customs bond is a three-party contract among a principal (usually the importer of record, sometimes a broker or another party transacting customs business), a surety (typically an insurance company licensed to write federal bonds), and CBP as the obligee. The principal and surety jointly and severally promise that the principal will meet its customs obligations, chiefly paying duties, taxes, and fees on time and complying with entry, redelivery, and recordkeeping requirements. If the principal does not perform, CBP can make a claim against the surety for the bond amount, which is why bonds exist: they let CBP release merchandise into commerce before all obligations are fully liquidated, while keeping the revenue and compliance risk backstopped.

CBP’s general authority to require a bond, beyond the specific instances already written into a particular regulation, comes from 19 CFR 113.1: the Commissioner may require whatever bond or other security is “considered necessary for the protection of the revenue or to assure compliance with any pertinent law, regulation, or instruction.” The specific conditions a basic importation and entry bond must contain, covering timely duty deposit, proper entry filing, document production, and redelivery on demand, are set out in 19 CFR 113.62.

What is the difference between a single transaction bond and a continuous bond?

The exam tests this distinction constantly, because it decides which bond form an importer actually files.

• Single transaction bond (STB). Covers one specific importation. Under 19 CFR 113.11, for an isolated transaction the applicant identifies the value and nature of the merchandise involved, and no separate application is needed if the proper bond is simply filed with the entry or entry summary. An STB is the right choice for an infrequent importer, a one-off shipment, or a shipment of merchandise subject to other agency requirements that CBP wants specifically secured.
• Continuous bond. Covers every entry a principal makes at every port for a full year, renewing automatically until terminated. Under 113.11, the continuous bond application must state the character of the merchandise to be imported and the total ordinary customs duties plus estimated taxes for the prior calendar year that would have accrued on that merchandise, or, if there is no import history, a good-faith estimate for the current year. A continuous bond is the standard choice for any importer or broker with recurring transactions, since it replaces filing a new bond with every entry.

	Single transaction bond	Continuous bond
Covers	One entry	All entries, all ports, for one year
Typical user	Occasional importer, one-off shipment	Regular importer or broker with recurring entries
Renewal	None, expires with the transaction	Automatic annual renewal until terminated
Amount basis	Value and nature of that shipment	Prior year’s (or estimated) duties, taxes, and fees across all entries

Who must be bonded?

The obligation to post a bond attaches to whoever is the principal, the party CBP is looking to for performance, not to holding a broker license as such.

• Importers of record. The default rule is that a formal entry, generally required for commercial shipments exceeding $2,500 in value, needs a bond to secure the estimated duties and guarantee compliance, as covered in the entry process guide. An informal entry at or under that threshold usually does not require one. An importer who files continuously typically carries a continuous bond rather than a new STB for every shipment.
• Customs brokers. Part 111 does not condition the broker license itself on the broker holding a bond; a broker most often transacts business as an agent under the importer’s own bond. But a broker becomes a principal, and must secure its own bond, whenever it takes on a role Part 113 separately conditions: acting as importer of record on its own account, operating as a carrier or the custodian of bonded merchandise, or filing under any of the other role-specific bond conditions in Subpart G of Part 113 (113.62 through 113.75), which lists a distinct bond condition for each function rather than one universal “broker bond.”
• Other principals. Warehouse proprietors, foreign-trade zone operators, international carriers, and custodians of bonded merchandise each have their own bond condition in Subpart G, because each is a distinct point where CBP is exposed to loss of revenue or control of merchandise.

The unifying exam answer: figure out whose name goes on the bond as principal for the transaction in front of you, importer, broker acting on its own account, carrier, or warehouse operator, and that tells you which Subpart G condition applies.

How does CBP set and review the bond amount?

Bond amount is not a flat fee schedule; it is a sufficiency determination CBP makes and periodically re-checks. Under 19 CFR 113.13:

• The regulatory floor. “The amount of any CBP bond must not be less than $100,” with fractional dollars disregarded and the amount rounded up to the next whole dollar. Above that floor, the specific amount is set case by case, driven for a continuous bond by the duties, taxes, and fees data the principal supplied on the 113.11 application, and reviewed against the principal’s actual activity over time.
• The sufficiency factors. CBP weighs six things when deciding whether an existing bond is still adequate: the principal’s prior record of timely duty and tax payment, its record of promptly complying with CBP demands, the value and nature of the merchandise involved, the degree of CBP supervision the transaction needs, the principal’s history of honoring its bond commitments, and the accuracy of the information in its bond application.
• Periodic review and a cure period. CBP reviews bonds on an ongoing basis. If CBP determines a bond has become insufficient, it must notify the principal and the surety and allow 15 days to remedy the deficiency, during which CBP may also require additional cash deposits or transaction-by-transaction bonds to cover the gap.
• Emergency authority. If accepting only the existing continuous bond would, in CBP’s judgment, place the revenue in jeopardy or hinder enforcement of any law CBP administers, CBP may immediately require additional security without waiting out the normal review cycle.

The exam-relevant shape of this: bond amount is not fixed in the CFR text itself as a percentage or dollar table. Part 113 sets the floor and the process; the actual sufficiency number is an administrative determination CBP makes and can revisit.

What is a bond rider, and when does an importer need one?

A rider is a filed change to an existing bond, most commonly a change of the bonded party’s name, address, or corporate status, or an increase to the secured amount, without terminating and replacing the whole bond. Part 113 treats the underlying document carefully: 19 CFR 113.23 distinguishes minor “alterations or erasures” (typos, address changes) from substantive “modifications or interlineations,” and it draws a hard line once CBP has approved a bond. After CBP approval, the port director may not simply permit a change on the existing paper; unless a change is expressly authorized by regulation or Commissioner instruction, a new bond must be executed to supersede the old one. In practice, riders and continuous-bond amount increases are handled through CBP’s standard bond-approval channel (the Revenue Division) rather than by hand-editing an approved bond, and a principal whose imports are growing should proactively update its continuous bond application (113.11 requires a new application within 30 days of a material change) rather than wait for CBP to flag it as insufficient.

What happens if a bond is insufficient, or a required bond is missing?

Two different failure modes show up on the exam, and they carry different consequences.

An existing bond becomes insufficient for growing volume. This is the 113.13 process above: CBP notifies the principal and surety, gives 15 days to cure (typically by increasing the continuous bond amount or posting supplemental security), and can demand cash deposits or per-transaction bonds in the meantime. This is an administrative correction, not a penalty, as long as the principal responds within the cure window.

A transaction proceeds without adequate security, or the principal defaults on what the bond secures. This is where the basic importation and entry bond conditions in 113.62 bite. The principal and surety are jointly and severally liable on the conditions of the bond, so a failure to deposit duties on time, to redeliver merchandise CBP demands back, or to file required documentation exposes the bond to a claim for liquidated damages, CBP’s standard remedy for a bond breach short of proving actual loss. Liquidated damages amounts are set by the specific condition breached and can range from a fixed dollar amount for a filing default up to a multiple of merchandise value for goods that should have been redelivered but were not, which is why the temporary importation under bond rule sets its bond at double the estimated duties: the liquidated damages for failing to export are pegged to that same multiple. Where no adequate bond exists at all for merchandise that requires one, CBP can refuse to release the merchandise, which is the practical reason nearly every commercial formal entry arrives with the bond question already answered before the goods reach the port.

How bonds show up on the exam

Bond questions tend to be scenario matching: read the fact pattern (single occasional shipment vs. recurring importer, importer vs. broker vs. carrier, a bond amount that has not kept pace with volume) and identify which Part 113 mechanism applies, single transaction vs. continuous, the 113.13 sufficiency review and 15-day cure, or a Subpart G liquidated-damages exposure. Tab Part 113 next to Part 111 broker compliance and Part 141/142 entry in the corpus map, since bond questions frequently cross-reference both, and drill the lookup speed in the navigation trainer before testing recall with the free practice test. For the entry-value threshold that decides whether a bond is even required, see the entry process guide; for the one bond amount the CFR does fix by formula (double the estimated duties for a TIB), see special entry types; and for what a bond breach can escalate into if CBP treats it as a false statement rather than a simple default, see customs penalties and prior disclosure. The bond itself is filed on CBP Form 301, and the informal-entry value ceiling that decides whether a formal entry (and its bond) is needed at all is on the key deadlines and thresholds reference.

Sources: 19 CFR Part 113 (CBP Bonds), sections 113.1 (general authority to require bonds), 113.11 (bond application, single transaction and continuous), 113.13 (bond amount floor and sufficiency review), 113.21 and 113.23 (bond form, changes, and riders), and 113.62 (basic importation and entry bond conditions), as published on the Legal Information Institute mirror of the CFR (law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/19), cross-checked against the eCFR (ecfr.gov/current/title-19), reviewed 2026-07-28. Bond amounts and sufficiency determinations are administrative and change with an importer's or broker's activity; confirm current requirements with CBP or a surety before relying on any specific figure.