In-bond shipments: IT, T&E and IE under 19 CFR part 18
Three movements, five clocks and one bond. 19 CFR part 18 as an operator has to run it, with the section numbers you will be quoting back when a liquidated-damages claim arrives.
An in-bond shipment moves imported merchandise between US ports under a custodial bond, before appraisement and without payment of duty. 19 CFR part 18 provides seven transportation entries and withdrawals, of which three carry the movement: immediate transportation (IT, type 61), which carries the goods to another US port to be entered there; transportation and exportation (T&E, 62), which carries them to another US port to be exported; and immediate exportation (IE, 63), which exports them from the port of arrival. The application is filed electronically, and arrival must be reported to CBP within two business days.
Which of the three you are actually filing
19 CFR 18.1(b) lists seven transportation entries and withdrawals, not three: the other four are the warehouse and vessel-supply variants of the same three. The entry type codes 61, 62 and 63 are the ones printed in the CBP block on an air waybill under 19 CFR 122.92.
| Entry | Type | What it does | Where it ends |
|---|---|---|---|
| Immediate transportation | 61 (IT) | Moves unentered merchandise inland to be entered at the destination port | Consumption or warehouse entry, or FTZ admission, at the port of destination |
| Transportation and exportation | 62 (T&E) | Moves merchandise across the US to leave the country from a different port | Exportation from the port of exportation |
| Immediate exportation | 63 (IE) | Exports merchandise from the same port at which it arrived | Exportation, with no inland in-bond movement |
The distinction operators get wrong is IE versus T&E. An IE exports from the arrival port; the moment the cargo has to travel to a different port to be exported it is not an IE. 19 CFR 18.25 is headed “Direct exportation” and 19 CFR 18.26 “Indirect exportation”, and the indirect case requires an in-bond application under the transportation and exportation procedure. (18.26(a) is drafted on the vessel case, merchandise that was to be exported without landing under § 18.25(e); the section headings carry the general distinction.) 19 CFR 18.25(a) also fixes what an IE is for: merchandise in CBP custody for which no entry has been made or completed, merchandise covered by an unliquidated consumption entry, and merchandise entered in good faith but found to be prohibited under US law — a rejected consignment going straight back out of the same port is the classic case.
What replaced the paper 7512 — and where paper survives
Since the in-bond final rule took effect on 27 November 2017, 19 CFR 18.1(d)(2) requires that “the in-bond application must be electronically transmitted to CBP via a CBP-approved EDI system, except as described in § 18.31 relating to the in-bond transportation of merchandise by pipeline, or air (see 19 CFR part 122) or under a TIR carnet (see 19 CFR part 115).” Part 18 names CBP Form 7512 exactly once, at § 18.31(a)(2), where a pipeline in-bond application may still be made on the paper form or electronically. For ocean, rail and truck, the application, the movement authorisation, the arrival and the export report are all messages. Paper survives outside part 18, which is why brokers still handle the form — and in one case it sits alongside the electronic filing rather than instead of it:
- Air. 19 CFR 122.92 still provides that “Customs Form 7512 or other Customs approved documents, such as an air waybill” may be used for both entry and manifest — three copies for an IT, four for a T&E — with the origin port code, entry type, destination and bonded carrier set out in a block in the upper right corner of the air waybill.
- Pipeline. 19 CFR 18.31.
- TIR carnet. 19 CFR part 115.
- Trucks transiting the United States point-to-point in Canada. 19 CFR 123.42 manifests the movement on the United States-Canada Transit Manifest, CBP Form 7512-B Canada 8 1/2 — but 123.42(c)(1) still requires an in-bond application filed under § 18.1 prior to or upon arrival at the US port. The paper manifest is additional to the electronic filing, not a substitute for it, and treating it as a substitute is a liquidated-damages event. The mirror case — US-to-US cargo moving through Canada or Mexico — is 19 CFR 123.22, Forms 7512-B and 7533-C.
CBP still publishes Form 7512, “Transportation Entry and Manifest of Goods Subject to CBP Inspection and Permit”, and carriers routinely print the electronic application in that layout as a driver copy. That printout is a convenience document, not the filing.
What the application has to carry, and who may file it
Under 19 CFR 18.1(c) the entry may be filed by the carrier or its authorised agent that brought the merchandise to the origination port; by the carrier or agent that is to accept it under its bond or a carnet for the movement; or by any person with “a sufficient interest in the merchandise as shown by the bill of lading or manifest, a certificate of the importing carrier … or by any other document.” Sufficient interest is the door a forwarder without the custodial bond walks through — but liability sits with the bond obligor, not the filer, and the two are frequently different parties.
19 CFR 18.1(d)(1) requires, among other elements, the six-digit HTSUS number, the quantity expressed in the smallest external packing unit — not the container, not the pallet — and the container and seal numbers. 18.1(e) requires a custodial bond on CBP Form 301 containing the conditions at 19 CFR 113.63. Under 19 CFR 18.2(a) the merchandise must go to a common carrier, contract carrier, freight forwarder or private carrier bonded for that purpose, and where another carrier’s facilities are used, responsibility remains with the party that obligated its bond.
The five clocks
- Movement authorisation, before departure. 19 CFR 18.1(f): authorisation from CBP is required before merchandise can be transported in-bond, and comes back through the EDI system. Rolling on the filing rather than on the authorisation is a breach, not a shortcut.
- Seal numbers within two business days. 19 CFR 18.1(h) requires the in-bond record to be updated or amended within two business days of the event that requires updating. The seal case has its own rule and its own trigger: under 19 CFR 18.1(d)(1)(v), where the seal number is not known when the application is filed, the application must be updated with it within two business days from the date the initial carrier takes possession of the sealed merchandise — an earlier and more definite event than the general rule, so compute it from possession. Under 19 CFR 18.4 the seals must remain intact until the merchandise reaches the port of destination or exportation; where they must be broken in transit for a transfer or an emergency, a responsible agent of the carrier may remove them, supervise the handling, reseal, and report the new numbers.
- Thirty days in transit, sixty by barge. 19 CFR 18.1(i)(1) runs the clock from conveyance arrival at the origination port, where the application was received and approved before that arrival, or from the date CBP provided movement authorisation — whichever is later. CBP examination time does not count. An extension takes a written request to the port director of the port of destination or exportation, 18.1(i)(2); CBP or another agency with jurisdiction may also shorten the window, 18.1(i)(3). Diversion buys nothing: 19 CFR 18.5(b) says approving a request to divert “does not extend the in-transit time specified in § 18.1(i)(1).”
- Arrival within two business days, with the FIRMS code. 19 CFR 18.1(j): within two business days after the arrival of any portion of the shipment, CBP must be notified through a CBP-approved EDI system, and the notification must include the FIRMS code of the location of the merchandise within the port. This is the message most often filed late, because it depends on a warehouse or CFS confirming receipt rather than on the carrier that filed the entry. 18.1(j) also states the consequence: failure to report the arrival, or the FIRMS code for the physical location of the merchandise, within the prescribed period constitutes an irregular delivery — and the in-bond stays open against your bond while the transit clock runs. Our CBP FIRMS code lookup covers the code itself and how to verify one against CBP’s live report before you file.
- Fifteen calendar days after arrival. 19 CFR 18.1(k) allows 15 calendar days from the date of arrival of the entire in-bond shipment at the port of destination or exportation to enter the merchandise, export it or admit it to a foreign trade zone; on the sixteenth day it becomes subject to general order. That is the general rule for any in-bond shipment, not an IT-only rule, and on a split consignment the word “entire” does the work. A T&E runs the same 15 days from the arrival of the last portion at the port of exportation, 19 CFR 18.20(f); an IE, 19 CFR 18.25(c). Then, within two business days after exportation, the in-bond record must be updated to show the merchandise exported — 18.20(g) and 18.25(f). The port director may separately require evidence of exportation under 19 CFR 113.55.
Bond liability, and what liquidated damages actually attach to
Under 19 CFR 18.8(a) the party whose bond is obligated on the transportation entry is liable for breach of any of the requirements found in part 18, and “any loss found to exist at the port of destination or port of exportation will be presumed to have occurred while the merchandise was in the possession of the party whose bond was obligated under the transportation entry, unless conclusive evidence to the contrary is produced.” The presumption runs against the bond obligor. 18.8(b) makes that party liable for liquidated damages on a failure to comply, and 18.8(c) provides that the amount of duties, taxes, fees and charges owed to the United States “is not limited to the amount of the bond obligated on the transportation entry.”
The figure comes from the custodial bond conditions at 19 CFR 113.63(j). On a default involving merchandise, liquidated damages are equal to the value of the merchandise involved in the default, or three times that value where the merchandise is restricted or prohibited merchandise or alcoholic beverages, value being determined under 19 U.S.C. 1401a. 113.63(j)(3) sets liquidated damages at $1,000 for each default where the default does not involve merchandise — but the same paragraph adds that “it is understood and agreed that whether the default involves merchandise is determined by CBP”, so that is not a category a filer elects into.
Do not budget $1,000 against a late arrival message. Failure to report the arrival, or the FIRMS code, within the prescribed period is an irregular delivery under 19 CFR 18.1(j), and irregular delivery is one of the breaches 19 CFR 18.8 enumerates. CBP’s published mitigation guidelines for in-bond assess claims for shortage, irregular delivery, non-delivery or delivery directly to the consignee at the value of the merchandise, or three times value where the merchandise is restricted or is alcoholic beverages. Relief comes at the petition stage rather than at assessment: where the merchandise was in fact delivered on time and only the documentation was late — not filed within two days of arrival — the guidelines mitigate to an amount between $100 and $500. CBP may cancel a claim on payment of a lesser amount where the petition shows the violation occurred without intent to evade the law.
What goes wrong
- Nobody owns the arrival message. The carrier delivered; the CFS received; neither filed. Two business days pass and the in-bond stays open against a bond that is not the CFS’s.
- The 15-day clock read as starting at delivery to the consignee. It starts on arrival at the port, and on a split consignment the T&E clock starts when the last portion arrives at the port of exportation.
- Diversion treated as a reset. 18.5(b) says otherwise: a diverted move still has to reach the new port inside the original in-transit time.
- An IE filed for cargo that then has to move. Once a second port is involved it is indirect exportation under 18.26 and has to move as a T&E, and refiling mid-move does not give back the transit time already spent.
- Quantity reported in containers. 18.1(d)(1) asks for the smallest external packing unit.
- Export assumed to close the record. It does not. The two-business-day export update under 18.20(g) or 18.25(f) is what closes it, and an unclosed T&E is an open bond liability that surfaces months later.
How freight software handles it
Linbis is not a filer and does not transmit in-bond messages to CBP. What a forwarding system is for is the record the filing is made from and the clocks that run off it: the entry type and in-bond number, the bond obligor held separately from the filer, the six-digit HTSUS lines and the piece count at the smallest packing unit, container and seal numbers with the amendment history when a seal is broken in transit, the FIRMS code of the receiving facility, and dated events for movement authorisation, arrival and export — so the 30-day, two-business-day and 15-day windows are visible before they expire rather than after. Where the in-bond ends in an entry, the customs-facing fields sit alongside it; see customs clearance software. A T&E does not require Electronic Export Information under 19 CFR 18.20(e) provided the merchandise has not been entered for consumption or warehousing or admitted into an FTZ — where it has, see AES filing requirements. Subpart H of part 18 holds a single section, § 18.46, and it is an in-bond rule rather than a signpost: where merchandise was intended at the time of the security filing to move as an IE or T&E, changing that in-bond entry into a consumption entry needs the permission of the port director of the origination port, and that permission is granted only on CBP’s receipt of a complete Importer Security Filing.
Frequently asked questions
Is an IT entry a customs entry?
No. An IT moves unentered merchandise to another port under bond. The consumption or warehouse entry, and the duty, happen at the destination port — inside the 15 calendar days 19 CFR 18.1(k) allows before the goods go to general order.
Can merchandise on an IE be exported from a different port?
No. An IE exports from the port of arrival. If the goods must move to another port to leave the country, 19 CFR 18.26 requires an in-bond application under the transportation and exportation procedure instead.
How long may an in-bond shipment be in transit?
30 days, running from conveyance arrival at the origination port where the in-bond application was received and approved before that arrival, and otherwise from the date CBP provided movement authorisation — whichever is later. 60 days where any part of the movement is by barge. CBP examination time is excluded, and merchandise transported by pipeline is not subject to these limits at all.
Does a T&E require an EEI filing?
19 CFR 18.20(e) provides that filing of Electronic Export Information is not required for merchandise entered for transportation and exportation, provided it has not been entered for consumption or warehousing, or admitted into a foreign trade zone.
What does CBP claim if the arrival is never reported?
An unreported arrival is an irregular delivery under 19 CFR 18.1(j). CBP’s mitigation guidelines assess claims for irregular delivery at the value of the merchandise, or three times value for restricted or prohibited goods and alcoholic beverages, under the bond conditions at 19 CFR 113.63(j)(1). The $1,000-per-default figure at 113.63(j)(3) applies only where CBP determines the default does not involve merchandise, and CBP makes that determination. Duties, taxes and fees on missing merchandise are owed on top and, under 19 CFR 18.8(c), are not capped at the bond amount.
Our carrier already files our in-bonds — why change anything?
You may not need to change who files. What is usually missing is the record on your side: which bond is obligated on each move as against who filed it, the FIRMS code the arrival was reported at, and a date against each clock. When a claim arrives, the petition is written from that record. Linbis offers a free trial with no credit card, so it can be tested against your own in-bond file first.