A customs broker is licensed by Customs and Border Protection under 19 U.S.C. § 1641 to transact customs business on behalf of importers: classifying goods, filing entries, paying duties, and dealing with the agency on the importer’s behalf. A customs lawyer is licensed by a state bar and, for trade cases, admitted to the U.S. Court of International Trade. The two work on the same entries and often sit on the same calls, but they do different things, and the differences matter at exactly the moments when something has gone wrong.
What a broker does
The broker is the importer’s agent for the transaction. A good broker knows the Harmonized Tariff Schedule the way a pilot knows a checklist, keeps up with the weekly changes in Section 232 and Section 301 coverage, flags partner government agency requirements, and maintains the entry records CBP requires. The broker’s license, and the broker’s continuing obligation to exercise responsible supervision and control, are personal. A broker who files what a client tells it to file, knowing it to be wrong, risks that license.
A broker cannot represent an importer in a penalty proceeding beyond the administrative petition stage, cannot appear in court, and cannot give an opinion that carries the protection of attorney-client privilege. Everything the broker knows is discoverable. In a § 1592 case, the broker’s records and the broker’s recollection are usually the government’s best evidence.
What a lawyer does
The lawyer’s work begins where the entry ends. Prior disclosures, pre-penalty responses, penalty petitions, seizure cases, protests that are headed for the court, antidumping scope rulings, Federal Maritime Commission proceedings, and the Court of International Trade itself. The lawyer’s conversations with the importer are privileged, which means an internal review of four years of entries can be conducted without creating a record that CBP can demand.
The lawyer also carries the importer’s position into forums the broker cannot enter: the agency’s Office of Regulations and Rulings on further review, the Court of International Trade, the Federal Circuit.
The moments a broker should pick up the phone
Brokers see the warning signs first. These are the ones that should go to counsel the day they arrive.
- A CF-28 that asks about transaction structure, related-party pricing, or the basis for a preference claim, rather than for an invoice.
- A CF-29 proposing a rate advance that would apply to every entry of the same product.
- A pre-penalty notice, a seizure notice, or a visit from Homeland Security Investigations.
- A continuous bond sufficiency letter demanding a larger bond on short notice.
- A request from the importer to “fix” prior entries without disclosure.
- Any sign that the importer’s own description of the goods or their origin is not what the broker has been filing.
- A notice of license suspension or revocation, or a CBP audit of the brokerage itself.
The last one deserves its own line. Brokers are regulated persons with their own exposure, and a brokerage facing a penalty under § 1641 or a license action needs counsel of its own, not the importer’s.
Why this firm thinks about it this way
Neil Mooney held a Customs broker’s license for twenty years and ran a brokerage, forwarding and NVOCC group in Miami before he finished law school. The firm he founded has always described itself as a law firm for customs brokers, and a large share of its work still arrives through brokers who recognized a problem early. The brokers keep their clients. The clients keep their money. Nobody has to explain to the lawyer what a 7501 is.
Importers should expect their broker and their lawyer to talk to each other, with the importer’s permission, and should be suspicious of either one who prefers not to.