October 2024 — Question 7
A duly licensed customs broker was named in and properly served a U.S CBP summons signed by a Center Director. The summons requires the broker to provide CBP with documentation for 10 entries the broker filed on behalf of Company Z within the last three years so as to help CBP ascertain the correctness of the 10 entries. The broker terminated Company Z as a client 10 months before the summons’ issuance and the POA was revoked. Company Z has not provided the broker with specific written instructions regarding responding to a summons within its now revoked power of attorney document. How must the broker respond to the Customs’ summons?
- AProvide CBP with the entry files requested because the broker is legally obligated to make such records available to CBP.✓ CBP's answer
- BReturn the summons to CBP because it must be signed by an auditor or special agent to be legally effective.
- CForward the summons to Company Z and notify the Center Director that it has been forwarded to the party obligated to respond to the summons.
- DNo response to the summons is required because the record retention period for Company Z's entry filed expired upon the termination of the broker-client relationship.
Why this answer
The cited summons authority lets CBP, when ascertaining the correctness of any entry, summon any person who made, kept, or was required to keep records concerning the entries under examination, and a broker is a statutory recordkeeper who must retain entry records for the prescribed period and produce them on lawful demand. Terminating the client and revoking the power of attorney neither transfers that duty nor cuts short the retention period, so the broker must comply and produce the ten entry files. Option C tempts as a courteous redirect, but the summons was properly served on the broker, who possesses the records and bears an independent legal obligation to respond. Watch for: Assuming client termination ends the broker's independent recordkeeping and summons-compliance obligations.
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 October 2024 examination.
Reading answers is easy. The exam is 80 of these in 4.5 hours.
Pass rates run 12–30%. Find out in 15 minutes whether you'd clear the 75% line today — free, no signup.