Licensed Customs Broker

The Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (here), signed into law by President Barack Obama on Feb. 24, establishes new requirements for customs brokers to verify the identities of their importer clients, as well as a new importer of record database. It also provides for CBP's National Targeting Center to issue "Trade Alerts" directing CBP port personnel to inspect high-risk merchandise, and directs CBP to accept private sector training on classification, appraisement, and other enforcement issues.

The customs broker’s license examination scheduled for April 2016 will be on Monday, April 4, said CBP in a notice (here). The exam will consist of 80 multiple-choice questions. Exam topics usually include: Entry; Classification; Trade Agreements; Valuation; Broker Compliance; Power of Attorney; Marking; Drawback; Bonds; Foreign Trade Zones; Warehouse Entries; Intellectual Property Rights; and other subjects pertinent to a broker's duties.

The following customs broker licenses and all associated permits are revoked for failure to employ a licensed broker, said CBP in a notice (here).

CBP plans to revoke hundreds of customs broker licenses by operation of law, without prejudice, for failure to file the 2015 triennial status report and applicable fee, it said in a notice (here). CBP’s list includes the broker name (individual or company), license number, and port name associated with the licenses being revoked.

International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for 2015 in case they were missed.

Akin Gump hired Tyson Smith, previously a consultant with TradeMoves, as a customs and international trade specialist in the Washington office, the law firm said (here). Smith is a licensed customs broker and will work with Akin Gump clients on tariff classification, valuation and binding rulings, among other things, the firm said.

Lawmakers finished up work on a conference version of long-debated customs reauthorization legislation that combines the underlying concepts of the Senate- and House-proposed customs bills, said Conference Committee members on Dec. 9 (here). Notably, the compromise legislation (here) would impose the ENFORCE Act's firm deadlines on CBP to investigate claims of antidumping and countervailing duty evasion, and would require new regulations on customs broker identification of importers, under threat of penalty. A new provision in the legislation -- absent from either chamber's original bill -- would hold CBP to stricter deadlines for reliquidating entries. The bill could go to a vote on the House floor as early as Dec. 11, a congressional staffer said. The lawmakers also released a summary (here) and joint explanatory statement (here) on the bill's provisions.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published its Fall 2015 regulatory agenda for CBP (here). The agenda includes a new rulemaking on the modernization of customs broker regulations (here). A source of discussion for several years now, the inclusion of the rulemaking for broker regulations marks a step toward formal action. CBP Assistant Commissioner Brenda Smith recently said a proposed rule on Part 111 may face some delay due the Automated Commercial Environment, which is seen as a priority (see 1511040068). The agenda mentions June of 2016 as a target date for the proposed rulemaking.

BALTIMORE -- CBP’s rewrite of its Part 111 customs broker regulations is again on hold until the agency completes regulatory changes required for implementation of the Automated Commercial Environment, said CBP Assistant Commissioner Brenda Smith at the CBP East Coast Trade Symposium on Nov. 4. The effort on broker regulations involves many of the same resources as the ACE regulatory changes, currently CBP’s top priority, meaning a proposed rule on Part 111 is at least six months away, she said.

The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices for Nov. 4 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):