Customs guarantee
Financial guarantee required by customs to cover potential payment of duties and taxes in certain customs operations.
A customs guarantee is a financial security that operators must provide to customs authorities to cover the potential customs debt linked to certain operations: transit, customs warehousing, temporary admission, inward processing, or deferred payment of duties. It assures customs that duties and taxes will be paid even in case of operator default.
The guarantee can be individual (covering a single operation) or comprehensive (covering all operations over a given period). The comprehensive guarantee is more common and generally takes the form of a bank guarantee undertaking or cash deposit. Its amount is set based on operation volume and estimated risk.
AEO status holders benefit from significant advantages: guarantee reduction to 30% of the reference amount (AEOC), and possibility of guarantee waiver for certain operations. These facilitations represent a considerable financial advantage for large operators.
In case of non-compliance with customs obligations (non-discharge of transit, diversion of goods), customs proceed with a guarantee call to the bank guarantor. The guarantor then has a deadline to settle the customs debt, with recourse against their client.