Notice2024-24464
Continuing Education Requirement for Licensed Customs Brokers
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
November 1, 2024
Issuing agencies
Homeland Security DepartmentU.S. Customs and Border Protection
Abstract
This document announces that individual customs broker license holders may begin completing qualified continuing broker education courses on January 1, 2025 (compliance date) and, accordingly, 20 credits as the prorated number of required credit hours for the triennial period beginning on February 1, 2024, and ending on January 31, 2027. Further, this notice announces the criteria that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) used to select qualified accreditors, the list of CBP-selected qualified accreditors, and the period of award for these accreditors.
Full Text
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 212 (Friday, November 1, 2024)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 212 (Friday, November 1, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 87387-87389]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-24464]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Continuing Education Requirement for Licensed Customs Brokers
AGENCY: U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland
Security.
ACTION: General notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This document announces that individual customs broker license
holders may begin completing qualified continuing broker education
courses on January 1, 2025 (compliance date) and, accordingly, 20
credits as the prorated number of required credit hours for the
triennial period beginning on February 1, 2024, and ending on January
31, 2027. Further, this notice announces the criteria that U.S. Customs
and Border Protection (CBP) used to select qualified accreditors, the
list of CBP-selected qualified accreditors, and the period of award for
these accreditors.
DATES: Individual brokers may begin completing qualified continuing
broker education courses on January 1, 2025. The initial three-year
period of award for CBP-selected qualified accreditors will be from
June 2, 2024, through June 1, 2027.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elena D. Ryan, Special Advisor, Broker
Continuing Education, Trade Policy and Programs, Office of Trade, U.S.
Customs and Border Protection, at (202) 302-2426 or
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#82c1cdccd6cbccd7cbccc5c7c6d7c1c3d6cbcdccc2e1e0f2ace6eaf1ace5edf4"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="31727e7f65787f64787f76747564727065787e7f715253411f5559421f565e47">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Section 641 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1641),
provides that individuals and business entities must hold a valid
customs broker's license and permit to transact customs business on
behalf of others. The statute also sets forth standards for the
issuance of broker licenses and permits, provides for disciplinary
action against customs brokers in the form of suspension or revocation
of such licenses and permits, and provides for the assessment of
monetary penalties against customs brokers. The statute also provides
for the assessment of monetary penalties against persons for conducting
customs business without the required broker's license.
Based upon 19 U.S.C. 1641, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
has promulgated regulations setting forth additional obligations of
customs brokers pertinent to the conduct of their customs business, in
part 111 of title 19 of the Code of Federal Regulations (19 CFR part
111). Part 111 provides the regulations regarding the licensing and
granting of permits to persons desiring to transact customs business as
customs brokers. These regulations also include the qualifications
required of applicants, the procedures for applying for licenses and
permits, the duties and responsibilities of individual brokers, the
grounds and procedures for disciplining individual brokers, including
the assessment of monetary penalties, and the revocation or suspension
of licenses and permits. CBP has also updated part 111 to require
individual brokers to satisfy a continuing education requirement.
CBP believes that maintaining current knowledge of customs laws and
procedures is essential for customs brokers to meet their legal duties.
Requiring a customs broker to fulfill a continuing education
requirement is the most effective means to ensure that the customs
broker keeps up with an ever-changing customs practice after passing
the broker exam and subsequently receiving the license. Therefore, on
October 28, 2020, CBP published an advance notice of proposed
rulemaking (ANPRM) in the Federal Register (85 FR 68260), soliciting
comments on a potential framework of continuing education requirements
for licensed customs brokers. On September 10, 2021, CBP published a
notice of
[[Page 87388]]
proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register (86 FR 50794), in
which CBP responded to the 29 comments it received in response to the
ANPRM, and adopted some of the suggestions proposed by the commenters.
CBP thus drafted the NPRM accordingly and announced proposed regulatory
amendments to include a proposed framework for individual customs
broker license holders (individual brokers) to administratively
maintain their license through completion of qualified continuing
broker education.
On June 23, 2023, CBP published a final rule in the Federal
Register (88 FR 41224). In the final rule, CBP responded to the 70
comments it received in response to the NPRM, and adopted as final,
with changes, the proposed amendments. The final rule added a new
subpart F in part 111, requiring continuing education for individual
brokers and setting forth the framework for administering the
requirement. In addition, CBP stated that it would announce, in a
Federal Register notice following publication of the final rule, the
date on which individual brokers may begin completing qualified
continuing broker education courses and the prorated number of required
continuing broker education credit hours for the triennial period
beginning on February 1, 2024, and ending on January 31, 2027 (the
2024-2027 triennial period). The final rule also noted that CBP will
announce the date on which qualified continuing broker education
courses will be available to individual brokers to begin meeting the
requirement and will publish an initial list of available qualified
continuing broker education opportunities on <a href="http://CBP.gov">CBP.gov</a>. Lastly, CBP will
periodically publish notices in the Federal Register announcing the
criteria that CBP will use to select an accreditor, the period during
which CBP will accept applications by potential accreditors, and the
period of award for CBP-selected accreditors.
II. CBP Implementation of the Continuing Education Requirement for
Licensed Customs Brokers
A. Compliance Date and Prorated Number of Required Continuing Broker
Education Credit Hours for the 2024-2027 Triennial Period
CBP has now completed full implementation of the framework for
administering the new continuing broker education requirement. Thus,
CBP is ready to announce that individual brokers may begin completing
qualified continuing broker education courses on January 1, 2025
(compliance date). On this same date, qualified continuing broker
education courses will be made available to individual brokers to begin
meeting the requirement. The initial list of available qualified
continuing broker education opportunities, as well as free qualified
continuing broker education activities available to individual brokers
through CBP and other U.S. government agency offerings, may be found at
<a href="http://CBP.gov">CBP.gov</a>. CBP believes that individual brokers will be able to fulfill
the continuing broker education requirement through the free, online-
based trainings that CBP and other U.S. government agencies offer,
alone.
The CBP regulations in section 111.102(b) require individual
brokers to complete at least 36 continuing education credits of
qualifying continuing broker education per triennial period, with
limited exceptions. In the final rule, CBP announced that, to allow for
full implementation of the continuing education requirement, CBP would
reduce the 36 continuing education credits required to be completed for
the 2024-2027 triennial period by six (6) credit hours for
approximately every six (6) months that elapse between February 1,
2024, and the compliance date on which individual brokers may begin
completing qualified continuing broker education courses. To give
individual brokers additional time to prepare for the new continuing
education requirement, CBP is reducing the number of required credit
hours that individual brokers must earn to 20 credit hours for the
2024-2027 triennial period (with certification of completion of the
credits by February 1, 2027). This reduced number of credits applies to
the 2024-2027 triennial period only. Individual brokers are required to
earn the full 36 credit hours for all triennial periods following the
2024-2027 triennial period.
B. CBP-Selected Accreditors
In order to supplement the available trainings offered by CBP and
other U.S. government agencies, CBP selected accreditors to administer
the accreditation of additional broker training and educational
activities offered by providers other than by a U.S. government agency.
Section 111.103(c) sets forth the process used by CBP for selection
of accreditors, based on a Request for Information (RFI) and a Request
for Proposal (RFP) announced through the System for Award Management
(SAM) or any other electronic system for award management approved by
the U.S. General Services Administration, in accordance with the
Federal Acquisition Regulation (48 CFR 1.000 et seq.), for a specific
period of award, subject to renewal. On August 29, 2023, CBP announced
through SAM an RFI (Notice ID 201400XX) seeking information from
organizations interested in establishing a relationship with CBP to
review and accredit commercial training, programs, course materials,
and other activities relating to the new continuing education
requirement for licensed customs brokers. CBP received replies from 11
organizations expressing such interest. In response to the replies CBP
received, on February 6, 2024, CBP announced through SAM a non-
traditional RFP (Notice ID 70B06C24R00000030) to solicit applications
to become approved accreditors of qualifying continuing customs broker
education. The RFP set forth the following criteria to be used for the
selection of accreditors:
<bullet> Identification of at least one key official in the
applicant's organization that holds an individual customs broker
license.
<bullet> Demonstration of knowledge of international trade laws,
customs laws and regulations, and general customs practices for
imported goods and goods subject to drawback.
<bullet> Demonstration of knowledge of other U.S. Government
agencies that are involved in transactions of international trade.
<bullet> A description of the applicant's process for handling
accreditation requests, beginning with how an individual submits a
training or educational activity proposed for credit to the applicant,
including detail on electronic and online methods for submitting
materials for consideration.
<bullet> Confirmation that the applicant's process for handling
accreditation requests uses a secure online (web-based) repository and
an overview of the basic functionality of the envisioned online
repository, and confirmation that the applicant can protect any
business sensitive or proprietary information collected in the
requests.
<bullet> Identification of up to five (5) professional references
with contact information, who should be familiar with the applicant's
relevant professional history, job performance, and have the knowledge
to determine if the applicant is capable of conducting the kind of
complex work described in this RFP. Additionally, the applicant was
required to provide contact information that included an individual's
full name, entity employing the individual (if applicable), email
address, and telephone number.
[[Page 87389]]
<bullet> Disclosure of any known potential organizational or
personal conflicts of interest, any applicant personnel who have
previously been employed by CBP, and any applicant personnel who
perform critical functions for one or more other applicants applying to
be approved accreditors under this RFP.
<bullet> Demonstration of the applicant's ability and commitment to
complete the accreditation process, resulting in transmission of an
approval or denial of credit to the requestor, within four (4) business
days of request submission.
CBP evaluated the applications received in response to the RFP
based on the above-mentioned criteria and selected the following
accreditors:
<bullet> E-Merchants Trade Council Inc. (EMTC)-Global Trade
Professionals Alliance (GTPA)-Practera
<bullet> International Compliance Professionals Association (ICPA)
<bullet> National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America
(NCBFAA)
<bullet> Sandler Travis & Rosenberg, P.A.
<bullet> Tr[uuml]Trade Solutions, Inc.
The initial three-year period of award for CBP-selected accreditors
will be from June 2, 2024, through June 1, 2027. The list of CBP-
selected accreditors may be found at <a href="http://CBP.gov">CBP.gov</a>.
Dated: October 11, 2024.
AnnMarie R. Highsmith,
Executive Assistant Commissioner, Office of Trade.
[FR Doc. 2024-24464 Filed 10-31-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9111-14-P
</pre><script data-cfasync="false" src="/cdn-cgi/scripts/5c5dd728/cloudflare-static/email-decode.min.js"></script></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on November 1, 2024.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.