Broker – Freight Forwarder

QUESTION: Would be interested in hearing from the group on what their best practices are for screening forwarders on the export orders that are under EXW / FCA terms.  Do you screen all forwarders; regardless of incoterms? %%%%%%%%%% ANSWERS: As a best practice, all parties to your transaction should be screened, regardless of the terms […]

OT Fact Sheet: Origin Certification Requirements QUESTION: Our Trade Compliance department is looking to strengthen 3rd party oversight through implementing KPIs and monitoring procedures with our Customs Brokers and agents. Can the trade community provide any examples of what that may look like that can be incorporated within our current SOPs? ============ Answer: Here are some […]

QUESTION: My company is looking into bringing brokerage in house. Before we do that, we would like to get some guidance/feedback from the membership on if other companies have brought brokerage in house? If yes, what were some of the advantages of doing this? What were some lessons learned? %%%%%%%%%% ANSWERS:I am assuming that by […]

QUESTION: In regards to this proposed ruling 84 FR 40302, where Customs Brokers must verify their clients, is this an official requirement?  Our new broker is asking for our CEO’s government ID and want to make sure this is already a requirement before requesting this from our CEO.  I’d like to include the CFR citation […]

QUESTION: Does anyone in the organization have a “reader’s Digest” version of the proposed revisions to the Customs Broker Regulations (19 CFR Part 111)? From the marketing copy, it appears the following will be affected: •             Changing the licensing process and fees •             National permits and fees replacing district permits •             Revisions to responsible supervision […]

QUESTION: We use a large courier for a broker for a large amount of small shipments. In turn, they ask that we submit an excel sheet with our products and corresponding HTS codes for the purpose of clearing shipments on our behalf under their IOR #. However, when I go to audit incoming records, I […]

QUESTION: We would like to hear from the members on what the best way is to implement a new customs broker for North America. After an RFP, we have chosen a company and are ready to announce it to all our divisions, who were part of the discussions and meetings. We would like to enforce […]

QUESTION: What important or key questions should I be asking my customs broker on our monthly update call? Any general and specific questions I should be asking? ========== Answers: # of shipments by mode, duty paid, duty saved, what information was missing (required broker to contact importer), any delays in clearance… I also ask mine […]

QUESTION: Appreciate any input for educational and clarification sake. When a customs broker is running a completely “Paperless Environment” which includes storing all entry and importer commercial document images on their server. Are there restrictions on where the server resides? Must the server be in the USA? Is a broker compliant by using cloud based […]

QUESTION: Does U.S. CBP maintain any publicly available data on violations of import regulations that are attributed to the customs broker? Any does BIS or any other agency maintain anything similar on violations of export regulations that are attributed to the export forwarding agent? ========== Answers: CBP No (Would be interested any comment from folks […]

QUESTION: I would like to ask the membership how they manage broker / freight forwarder RFPs.  Is there a best practice regarding the timeframe/interval for reviewing (assuming they are performing well) – every 3 years, 5 years, 10 years, etc.?  How do you identify their partnership differently from other 3rd party suppliers/providers where the business […]