CBP Final Rule on Continuing Education Includes Few Changes, Leaves Some Specifics TBD

CBP’s final rule on continuing education for customs brokers makes few changes to the agency’s underlying proposal, though much remains to be decided during the implementation process, including specific criteria for approving continuing education courses and accreditors.

Released June 22, the final rule requires brokers to complete 36 hours of continuing education every three years -- the same amount floated in CBP’s September 2021 proposed rule (see 2109090030) -- though CBP clarified in the final rule that the three-year periods will coincide with broker triennial reporting requirements, and that the 36 hours will be reduced for the first reporting period to give CBP time for implementation.

Changes from the proposal include that CBP will allow self-guided trainings and educational activities to qualify, as long as they end in a retention test. CBP also will recognize half-credits for 30-minute continuing education activities as the smallest unit of credit. CBP also clarified that course providers can amend an application if an accreditor rejects their course, or apply to another accreditor if denied accreditation.

CBP will not allow approved accreditors to self-certify their own courses, as the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America and others had requested in comments to the agency on the proposed rule (see 2111010040).

“To limit the risk of conflicts of interest and self-dealing, CBP must prohibit accreditors from accrediting their own training and educational activities,” CBP said. “If a CBP-selected accreditor’s trainings and educational activities meet the standards for accreditation, then a separate accreditor is just as capable of reaching the same conclusion and accrediting.”

The final rule becomes effective July 24.

Under the scheme envisioned by CBP, individual licensed brokers will be required to complete 36 hours of continuing education through activities such as “attending or presenting at accredited events,” including “courses, seminars, symposia, and conventions,” as well as “online activities, including qualified trainings provided in-house.” CBP will provide enough free courses to allow brokers to meet the requirements at no monetary cost, it said.

Brokers will “self-attest to the completion of the required continuing broker education on each triennial status report,” and will maintain records documenting their completion of the requirements, including documentation from the “provider or host” of the course if available, for examination by CBP upon the agency’s request.

CBP will not allow for “individual brokers to carry over any continuing education credits they completed in one triennial period in excess of the 36-hour requirement into the subsequent triennial period,” it said.

CBP anticipates issuing a request for proposals every three years for entities to apply to act as accreditors for continuing education courses, and existing accreditors will have to apply for renewal. A panel of CBP experts “will convene to review and approve or deny applications,” the agency said. “Once approved, accreditors can begin accepting submissions from program creators or companies seeking accreditation for specific programs,” CBP said, though the agency will directly identify activities offered by other government agencies, which won’t require accreditation.

Process details will largely be worked out during the initial implementation period, according to the final rule.

CBP will use the System for Award Management to issue a request for information and an RFP seeking applicants to become accreditors. While some initial vetting criteria are included in the final rule, “CBP anticipates the criteria will change as CBP makes the first selection of accreditors and then evaluates the outcomes,” the agency said. “Including accreditor criteria in CBP’s regulations would be too restrictive at this juncture. The accreditor criteria will be outlined in the RFP issued to solicit potential accreditors, and the RFP is a public document that any party can review,” it said.

Likewise, CBP will subsequently establish standards and guidelines for qualified continuing education courses in the initial implementation phase “in conjunction with the CBP-selected accreditors.” That will include “information on how and when CBP-selected accreditors will begin considering trainings and educational activities for accreditation.”

Once initial implementation is complete, CBP will then publish another Federal Register notice announcing that qualified continuing education courses are available, and will publish the initial list of courses on its website, and will “ensure there is a central location” on its website that allows brokers to “identify and link to all available qualified continuing broker education opportunities.”

That process will take time, so CBP will reduce the number of hours of continuing education it will require from brokers in the first triennial reporting period subject to the requirement (see 2306140063).

For triennial reports due Feb. 28, 2027, CBP will reduce the 36 hours “by six credits for approximately every six months that elapse between February 1, 2024, and the compliance date on which individual brokers may begin completing qualified continuing broker education courses, as announced in a Federal Register notice, following the publication of this final rule,” it said. The notice “will also announce the date on which qualified continuing broker education courses will be available to individual brokers to begin meeting the requirement. CBP will publish this Federal Register notice at least 30 days prior to the compliance date announced therein,” the agency said.

The reduction in number of hours “will only affect the triennial period between 2024 and 2027 and all triennial periods thereafter will require the completion and certification of completion of 36 continuing education credits,” CBP said. And “no educational activities or trainings completed before the compliance date announced in the Federal Register notice will qualify towards the continuing education credits required to be completed by the filing of the 2027 triennial status report,” the agency said.

Though the final rule will impose burdens on brokers that don’t already complete continuing education estimated to range from $34.81 to $2,228 per year, CBP said the majority of brokers -- the agency estimated 60% -- are already in compliance.

“Many companies that employ individual brokers provide and require in-house training and continuing education” that are eligible for accreditation under the final rule, CBP said. Many other brokers also “pursue professional certifications” like the NCBFAA’s "Certified Customs Specialist (CCS) and Certified Export Specialist (CES)” that already require 20 hours of continuing education.

“CBP envisions future accreditors will likely determine that trainings and educational activities designed for CCS certification” and required continuing education units “will qualify as continuing broker education … given the history of this certificate program and its reputation in the brokerage community.”

While CBP’s final rule doesn’t provide for a warning or notification for customs brokers that don’t meet the continuing education requirement, “all individual brokers should be aware of the continuing education requirement and the requirement to certify completion of the requirement with the filing of the 2027 triennial status report or in any future reporting year,” the agency said. “Individual brokers should note that they will only be required to certify completion of the requirement and will not be required to input or attach evidence of the 36 continuing education credits completed with their triennial status reports.”

Brokers who fail to complete the continuing education requirement will be notified that their license will be suspended unless they take corrective action within 30 days. If the license is suspended, the broker can still take corrective action within 120 days of the license’s suspension. “Corrective action can range from certifying completion of the requirement to completing 36 continuing education credits,” CBP said.

Brokers will not be able to request accreditation of a nonaccredited activity after the activity has already been completed.

Brokers who don’t want to meet the continuing education requirement can apply to have their license be voluntarily suspended, and if they do they will not be subject to the broker continuing education requirement during the period of voluntary suspension, the agency said. If a voluntarily suspended broker license is reactivated, or in the case of a newly issued broker license, the broker will be required to complete a prorated number of continuing education credits for the relevant triennial reporting period.

CBP said that the new continuing education requirements are necessary because the “vigorous pace and expanding scope of international trade require a more stringent continuing education framework for individual brokers who provide guidance to importers and drawback claimants.” There was a “significant increase” in customs broker penalties “from 2018 to 2019 and into 2020,” followed by a “slight decline in 2021,” likely due to “rapid changes in the international trade environment in those years,” including new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.

“Individual brokers who were assessed penalties by CBP between 2017 and 2020 have held their individual broker license for, on average, 37 years,” CBP said. “In contrast, the average individual broker license has been held for 24 years. This suggests that as more time passes since the passing of the customs broker exam, more errors are made.”