Bonded warehouse
Also known as: Customs warehouse, Customs-bonded warehouse
A facility licensed by customs to store imported goods without paying duty until they're released into the host country or re-exported.
A bonded warehouse is a customs-supervised storage facility where imported goods may be held in suspension of import duty, taxes, and (in many regimes) regulatory inspection. The operator holds a customs bond (or equivalent guarantee). Goods may be held for up to a regime-specific period (US: 5 years; UK: indefinite in some regimes; EU: typically 3 years). On withdrawal for domestic consumption, the importer pays duty at the rate prevailing on the withdrawal date. Re-export from the bonded warehouse incurs no duty.