CBP Extends Time Allowed for October CHB Exam

Test takers sitting for the October customs broker license exam will have an additional half hour to complete the exam, said CBP in a notice announcing the date of the exam. The October exam, scheduled for Oct. 7, will allow four and a half hours for completion, the notice said. At least since the April 1998 exam -- the earliest exam CBP makes available that includes a cover sheet with instructions -- the agency has allowed testers four hours.

The change may be part of an agency effort to improve some especially low passage rates on the exam in recent years, said Paula Connelly, a lawyer and customs broker who teaches a course in preparation for the exam in Boston. "I'm sure one of the reasons [for the change] is they've had two incredibly low pass rate in the last year," she said. The April 2012 exam pass rate was said to be around 1 percent (see 12052432) and the April 2013 rate was 4.4 percent (see 13060603), though CBP does not officially release the numbers publicly. CBP did not comment.

Such low pass rates "reflect poorly on customs," said Connelly. One of the major problems her students have with the exam in the past has been the time allowed, she said. It's important for CBP to limit the number of licenses it gives, but there should at least be a consistent pass rate of between 15 and 20 percent, she said. Otherwise, people get discouraged from taking the test, which may mean fewer brokers available to replace the retiring ones, said Connelly. CBP has a good amount of flexibility in how they structure the exam and the agency has been considering a number of updates to the test, she said.

Not everyone expects the time extension to be helpful. "I guess that's a good thing," said a skeptical Jon Fee, a lawyer with Alston & Bird that also teaches a course on the exam. The low test rates are more a reflection of obscure questions than problems with time management, he said. Had the April 2013 test taker been given an extra half hour, it probably would not have made much of a difference, he said. "If they ask good solid questions about your ability to use the tariff schedule and ability to look stuff up in the regulations, the pass rate shouldn't be so low," he said. The problem is that the questions are "frankly unfair," he said.

A bigger concern for the October exam is the potential for questions covering the entire Customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements (CATAIR), said Fee. Typically, CBP says it will test on some of the CATAIR appendices, rather than the whole thing, he said. Considering the additional material within the CATAIR that could be tested on, the additional time may make even less of a difference, he said.

The exam consists of 80 multiple-choice questions, with a score of 75 percent required to pass. Exam topics usually include: Entry, Classification, Country of Origin, Trade Agreements, Antidumping/Countervailing Duty, Value, Broker Responsibilities, FP&F, Protests, Marking, Prohibited and Restricted Merchandise, Drawback, Intellectual Property Rights, and other subjects pertinent to a broker's duties. CBP recommends that those taking the test bring the 2013 version of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, with no supplements, the full 19 CFR, the full CATAIR, Instructions for Preparation of CBP Form 7501 (dated July 24, 2012) and Right to Make Entry Directive 3530-002A.