May 2024 — Question 8
Which of the following scenarios demonstrates that a customs broker may have failed to maintain responsible supervision and control over their customs business?
- AJohn Smith Customs Brokerage (Smith) terminated Sally Johnson's (Johnson) employment. Johnson was listed in Smith's Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) portal account as the knowledgeable point of contact to be available to CBP during and outside of normal operating hours. Smith updated Johnson's employee record but did not designate a new knowledgeable point of contact in ACE. CBP has been unable to contact Smith for over six months.✓ CBP's answer
- BCountrywide Customs Brokerage (Countrywide) has ten offices across the United States under a National Permit with an approved supervision plan. Two of these offices do not have a licensed broker on site and have not had one for six months. Although Countrywide has not requested a waiver, Countrywide has a licensed broker conduct a supervisory visit twice a week to those offices.
- CNational Customs Brokerage (National) unwittingly hired James Jones, Sr., a convicted felon who committed embezzlement ten (10) years ago. On his employment application, Jones stated that he did not have any felony convictions and used another person's social security number. National did not seek a waiver to employ a convicted felon.
- DTrustworthy Customs Broker Co. (Trustworthy) received $10,000.00 from Sally Doe, an importer of handblown glass figurines. Sally has designated Trustworthy to make payment for all imports over the course of a year, and to collect any refunds issued by CBP. Sally owes $4,000.00 in estimated duties for her most recent acquisition of figurines. Trustworthy remitted payment to CBP within 12 days of the figurines’ arrival at the Port of Long Beach.
Why this answer
Responsible supervision and control is judged by the factors in the cited provisions, among them timely, reachable communication with CBP, and a broker operating under the national permit must maintain a current, knowledgeable point of contact available to CBP during and outside normal operating hours. Smith removed its terminated employee's designation, named no replacement, and has been unreachable for six months, a straightforward supervision-and-control failure. The remaining scenarios describe permissible conduct: an approved national-permit supervision plan can cover offices without an on-site licensed broker, the felon was hired unwittingly on falsified application information, and the client's duties were remitted within the allowed payment period. Option B tempts because pre-modernization rules once demanded district-level presence. Watch for: Flagging offices without on-site brokers, which an approved national-permit supervision plan allows.
Original CBLE Simulator explanation — the question and key above are CBP's; this analysis is ours. Verify against the current edition before relying on it in practice.
CBP's cited authority
Answer and citations as published in CBP's official answer key for the May 2024 examination.
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