[1] Customs brokers in the United States prepare and submit documentation to notify or obtain clearance from government agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Many customs brokers specialize in certain goods like apparel, perishables, or clearing the crew and manifest of large cargo vessels.
The requirements governing US Customs broker licenses, including eligibility, are laid out in Title 19, Part 111 of the United States Code of Federal Regulations (19 CFR 111).
To be eligible to obtain for a US Customs broker license, an individual applicant must satisfy several requirements: he or she must pass the US Customs Broker License Exam (CBLE) with a score of 75% or higher; on or before the date of application, he or she must be a United States citizen, must have attained the age of 21, and must not be a federal employee; and he or she must be of good moral character.
This three year time limit is calculated from the date of the letter informing the examinee of passing the CBLE.
The onus is firmly on the importer or exporter to ensure that any party acting on their behalf is in possession of the facts to do so.
Article 5 of the current customs code (Council Regulation 2913/1992) deals with representation, a key concept.
As a result, the importer or exporter is fully exposed to the risk or error and omission by the customs broker.
It is also however then similar to the US and Australia in requiring the person making the customs declaration to be registered and to have passed competency tests.
They should memorize major articles in customs law, valuation principles, HS headings with notes and international trade rules.
There are heavy fines in case of error or wrong caculo tariff classification, being one of the riskier professions in Costa Rica.
A complicated scrutiny of Customs Duty, Tax rates and government trade regulations and Quarantine permission may have to be undertaken first.
Brokers are trained and licensed to provide consultancy services of the above nature as accuracy is critical to the importer.
Due to the brokers intimate knowledge of the client’s business activities their relationship can be difficult to break.
[14] UUI Accreditation can be achieved by sitting and passing three exams set by the Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Federation of New Zealand Inc (CBAFF).