A requirement of commercial importing is a Customs Bond.
Who are the parties to a Customs bond?
Usually, there are three parties to a Customs bond: the principal, the surety and the beneficiary. The principal on a Customs bond can be an importer, a broker, a carrier, a bonded warehouse proprietor, a foreign trade zone operator or any one of a number of other parties that seek to do business with Customs. The principal gives the bond to US Customs to insure satisfactory performance of obligations that it undertakes. The surety is normally an insurance company that has been authorized by the Department of the Treasury to write Customs bonds. The surety agrees to pay any liability that might arise from the principal's failure to perform its obligations. The principal and surety are also known as the bond obligors. The U.S. Customs Service is the beneficiary on all the bonds it authorizes.