New Broker Handbook, Other Gudiance Set for Release Alongside Part 111 Rule, CBP Officials Say

CORONADO, Calif. -- With publication of its Part 111 customs broker modernization final rule expected in the coming days, CBP is at the ready with a tall stack of supporting documentation that will help brokers quickly understand the much-anticipated regulatory provisions when they’re out, agency officials said Oct. 7 at the Western Cargo Conference (WESCCON).

Claudia Bernhardt, the attorney-adviser at CBP’s trade office responsible for the Part 111 effort, said the Treasury Department signed off on the final rule on Oct. 6, removing the final hurdle before CBP submits it for publication in the Federal Register. The CBP officials speaking during the panel discussion had hoped that the rule would be published already, and that the conference would be their first chance to discuss the final rule.

On the day that the final rule publishes, CBP will post 21 new documents and aids to its website that will help brokers digest the final rule, said Melba Hubbard, branch chief-broker management at the agency. Among those will be a new, public facing version of the agency’s broker handbook, she said. CBP has also updated its own internal broker handbook and will distribute it to its broker management offices.

CBP is also at the ready to facilitate a seamless transition as brokers are forced to move from district permits that look set for elimination under the final rule to national permits. CBP has been “working behind the scenes” to notify brokers operating on district permits of the change, including the few that have been harder to reach because CBP doesn’t have their email addresses on file.

Though the transition will happen behind the scenes, brokers that are still actively filing at their local ports using district permits should begin thinking now about how their processes need to change in the move to national remote filing, said Tom Gould of Flexport, who also spoke on the panel.

Coming alongside the change to national permits will also be changes to how brokers must exercise responsible supervision and control. With a broker no longer required in each district office in a customs brokerage, CBP will instead allow more flexibility to how brokers structure their operations, depending on their business models. In general, CBP will look at how well the brokerage practice is working, and in particular whether brokers are filing entries correctly, when judging whether the broker needs to do more, whether that be keeping more brokers on staff or improving guidance to other employees, Hubbard said.

Appropriate supervision and control will depend on various factors, Bernhardt said. Among these will be the complexity of transactions, the size of the broker’s business, and the experience and skills of those working at the brokerage, she said. “Those are the considerations that go into your decision to determine how many brokers” a broker needs, she said.