Customs brokers have been pushing for a change to U.S. bankruptcy law for decades to make it so pass-through payments to CBP for tariffs are not subject to clawback after a client goes bankrupt. With a package of funding bills the Senate passed March 8, brokers got a permanent change to the law.
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CBP needs to develop more transparency about an importer's ability to change their assigned Centers of Excellence and Expertise for both importers and their customs brokers, the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) working group said in recommendations published Feb. 26 ahead of its March 6 meeting, where the recommendations will be voted on for approval (see 2402150016).
The October 2023 customs broker licensing exam had a 34% pass rate, the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee said in an issue paper released Feb. 26. It said 1,141 people took the test Oct. 25, with 932 of those taking the exam in-person at testing centers and 209 taking the exam remotely. CBP changed from five answer choices to four answer choices per question for the October 2023 exam, "to better align the CBLE with exam industry best practices," it said. The next exam was recently moved from April 24 to May 1 (see 2312120046). The issue paper was posted ahead of the COAC meeting on March 6 (see 2402260061).
A CBP headquarters official, chosen to help shape national policy on de minimis, said that while the trade community welcomed the opportunity for electronic clearance of packages that require partner government agency review, importers are often not following the reasonable care standard required for Type 86 entries. The Type 86 test is for packages that are low enough value to avoid duties under the de minimis statute, but are not eligible for de minimis because they contain goods that PGAs inspect. If importers participate in the test -- and there were more than 623 million packages last fiscal year that were covered -- they must provide a 10-digit Harmonized Tarff Schedule code.
The Agricultural Marketing Service will begin with a period of soft “enforcement discretion” once its new regulations on organic import certificates take effect on March 19, but importers should nonetheless be working now to get their organic certifications as required under the rules, an AMS official said, speaking during a recent webinar.
CBP posted the following documents ahead of the March 6 Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) meeting, which begins at 1 p.m. EST:
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee's (COAC) Broker Modernization Working Group will recommend that CBP unify the registration and "site selection process" for candidates applying for the customs brokers licensing exam. The goal would be to include "registration, site selection, payment, and other ancillary requirements," the working group said.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
Registration for the May 1 customs broker license exam opened on Feb. 20 and will close March 21, at 4:30 p.m., CBP said. Registration for the exam can be found at the Customs Brokers webpage on CBP's website. The agency previously announced that the exam date was being moved from April 24 to May 1 (see 2312120046).