Customs Brokers May Start to Earn 20 Continuing Education Credits in January, CBP Says
The CBP has finally let customs brokers know how many continuing education (CE) credits they must earn and when they can start earning them so that they can maintain their broker licenses.
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Starting Jan. 1, customs brokers must earn a prorated 20 credits by Jan. 31, 2027, which is the end of the triennial report period that started Feb. 1, 2024, according to a Federal Register notice.
For the next triennial period starting Feb. 1, 2027, and for each following triennial, customs brokers will need to earn 36 credits.
CBP is requiring customs brokers now to fulfill a new CE requirement, which CBP published as a final rule in June 2023 (see 23062200360) because "maintaining current knowledge of customs laws and procedures is essential for customs brokers to meet their legal duties. Requiring a customs broker to fulfill a continuing education requirement is the most effective means to ensure that the customs broker keeps up with an ever-changing customs practice after passing the broker exam and subsequently receiving the license."
In the notice, CBP said it plans to publish on its website an initial list of available qualified continuing broker education opportunities, including free qualified continuing broker education activities offered by CBP and other U.S. government agencies. "CBP believes that individual brokers will be able to fulfill the continuing broker education requirement through the free, online-based trainings that CBP and other U.S. government agencies offer, alone," it said.
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America's continuing education arm, the NCBFAA Educational Institute, praised CBP's announcement. The NCBFAA is also one of the five entities that CBP designated in June to approve CE courses for accreditation (see 2406270047).
“NEI’s many years of providing and certifying education to our industry has well positioned us to be the leaders in this new rule which will benefit all licensed U.S. customs brokers, as well as their customers and the U.S. government, so that they can more effectively and efficiently do their jobs," NEI Business Development Director Kiko Zuniga said.
CBP also described in the notice the criteria it used to select qualified accreditors, the list of qualified accreditors that CBP selected in June and the period of award for these accreditors.
“What’s particularly important to know about this process is that we can accredit more services and materials than may initially be obvious,” said Paula Connelly, senior counsel for Sandler Travis, another firm that CBP designated to provide course accreditation. The firm is also one of the five entities selected to accredit CE coursework.
“Of course this includes third-party training services designed to provide CE credits for customs brokers. But we can also accredit corporate internal training as meeting the CE requirements for a company’s own brokers. Moreover, brokers can have the time they spend preparing educational materials for internal or external presentations accredited as meeting their own CE requirements," Connelly said in a news release.