WCO Customs Broker Study Shows Disparate Regulatory Approaches From Country to Country

There's a wide range of approaches among customs regimes for overseeing customs brokers around the world, said a World Customs Organization report on the subject released May 31 (here). "There are several practices in terms of regulatory/licensing requirements, roles and responsibilities, fees and charges, cooperation mechanism between Customs and brokers," the report's summary said. The report also includes some "suggested policy and organizational considerations on Customs Brokers regime and a model checklist for licensing/regulating brokers," the WCO said in a news release (here).

The report is largely based on survey responses from 99 WCO members across the globe. Most of the members (71, or 73 percent) who responded don't require use of customs brokers for international trade, and 88 percent said that customs brokers must meet certain licensing requirements to operate, the report said. A combination of factors and reasons were cited for regulating brokers, including the protection of the "interests of traders and to ensure revenue collection, compliance and professionalism amongst the brokers," it said. "A few Members also indicated that the regulation of Customs brokers is equally necessary to optimize the government’s limited resources."

Customs regimes are starting take a more regional approach to where brokers can do business, the report said. "There are increasing tendencies among Members to allow their Customs brokers to provide their services within the Customs/Economic Union they belong to," it said. "This will be an important policy consideration in future, as Members join or form more such regional groupings." Among challenges reported involving brokers, "the appearance of informal brokers who operate with no license and ID has been observed," the WCO said. "Those informal brokers usually 'hire' the license/ID number from a licensed broker, for lodging declaration and other related work, against a consideration."

The WCO also listed some policy considerations on regulations for brokers. While "there is ‘no one size fits all’ solution," it said some existing programs "may require some adjustments to leverage new opportunities and to meet emerging challenges," it said. Among recommendations are that "use of Customs brokers should be made 'optional'" and "could potentially be governed by free-market principles as are other professional services, keeping in mind the national social and economic situation."