We’ve heard from a number of you that we screwed up royally with regard to properly notifying you of the date we began filing Single Entry Bonds on your behalf. We feel our customers are right and we want to apologize. Not to be used as an excuse, but that week was hell for anyone other than Osama bin Laden. With the tragedy of the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon, U.S. Customs simply added to the turmoil with their infamous September 6^th/10^th "Notice" – lacking any instructions whatsoever, let alone clear ones.

As you are hopefully aware, Jones & Jones took immediate exception and action with regard to their "Notice", its lack of instructions, and in the non-uniform manner in which the Field Offices interpreted it. With all the hubbub and our ensuing lengthy petitions advocating your industry’s rights, we failed to inform our clients in a manner which left no doubt that SEB’s were being tendered to Customs on THEIR behalf.

We provided you copies of our arguments, to include our September 13^th letter to Customs Headquarters documenting and reiterating our September 10^th and 12^th phone communications, voicing our adamant opposition to Customs’ unlawful mandate requiring Cash Deposits or SEB’s for shipments which were released weeks prior to the September 6^th date Customs originally tried to enforce. Even though our positions, as immediately related to them on the10^th, was found by Customs that same day to be correct, along with their understanding of our concern for an immediate remedy of the situation, Customs did not transmit the necessary notice to their field offices until September 27^th. We held off tendering SEB’s as long as we could, expecting Customs’ Headquarters to transmit clarifying instructions immediately. The damage already done, we insisted that all unlawfully mandated SEB’s should be expunged from our clients’ records. Customs said there were no provisions in their regulations for doing so. We countered that since they didn’t have provisions in their regulations mandating the bonds in the first place, why should their violation of those same regulations pose a problem for correcting the matter? Our Sureties and Attorneys are confidant Customs’ position could not be sustained in the event they attempted to collect.

The facts are - CVD impacted shipments entered on or after September 10^th at Ports of Entry/Field Offices which interpreted Headquarters’ September 6^th/10^th "Notice" as immediately mandating such, have had Single Entry Bonds or Cash Deposits posted against them. Some Ports of Entry did not mandate SEB’s until September 27^th.

I am extremely sorry that I did not perform up to many of your expectations.

Michael D. Jones, President