Question: According to the Announcement of GACC on the General Bond for Customs Protection of IPR, the guarantee amount of the general bond shall be equal to the sum of costs related to warehousing, custody and disposal incurred in the previous year after the IPR holder applied to the Customs for detention of the goods suspected of infringement. How to calculate such amount?

Answer: The said "sum of costs related to warehousing, custody and disposal incurred in the previous year after application to the Customs for detention of the goods suspected of infringement" refers to the total amount of the costs related to warehousing, custody and disposal actually paid by you in the previous year in accordance with the customs notices. For example, if you intend to apply for the general bond for 2007, the guarantee amount of the general bond to be provided should be all the costs paid by you at various port Customs in China throughout 2006. It is worth noting that the costs paid in 2006 may involve the cases settled in 2006 in which the Customs detained the suspected infringing goods in 2005, and may not involve the cases unsettled in 2006 in which the suspected infringing goods were detained in the same year.