Editorial Notes
References in Text

The Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, referred to in subsec. (i)(4)(B)(ii), is not set out in the Code. See Publication of Harmonized Tariff Schedule note set out under section 1202 of this title.

Prior Provisions

This section relates to the same subject matter as act June 10, 1910, ch. 283, §§ 1–5, 36 Stat. 464, 465 (incorporated into the Code as former sections 415 to 419 of this title); and those sections were expressly repealed by paragraph (e) of this section which read as follows: “(e) Licenses under Act of June 10, 1910.—The Act entitled ‘An Act to license customhouse brokers,’ approved June 10, 1910, is hereby repealed, except that any license issued under such Act shall continue in force and effect, subject to suspension and revocation in the same manner and upon the same conditions as licenses issued pursuant to subdivision (a) of this section.”

Act June 10, 1910, ch. 283, § 1, 36 Stat. 464, prior to its incorporation into the Code, referred to the collector or chief officer of the customs “at any port of entry or delivery.” Ports of delivery, not specifically mentioned as ports of entry, were abolished in the reorganization of the customs service by the President (see notes to section 1 of this title).

Act June 10, 1910, ch. 283, § 3, 36 Stat. 465, prior to its incorporation into the Code, referred to the United States Circuit Court instead of the District Court. Section 291 of the act of Mar. 3, 1911, provided that any reference, in any law not embraced in that act, to the Circuit Courts, or any power or duty conferred upon them, should be deemed to refer to, and to confer such power and duty upon, the District Courts.

Amendments

2016—Pub. L. 114–125, § 903(b)(1), substituted “U.S. Customs and Border Protection” for “the Customs Service” wherever appearing.

Subsec. (d)(1)(G). Pub. L. 114–125, § 903(a), added subpar. (G).

Subsec. (d)(2)(B). Pub. L. 114–125, § 903(b)(2), substituted “U.S. Customs and Border Protection” for “The Customs Service”.

Subsec. (g)(2)(B). Pub. L. 114–125, § 903(b)(3), substituted “notice under subparagraph (A)” for “Secretary’s notice”.

Subsec. (i). Pub. L. 114–125, § 116(a), added subsec. (i).

1998—Subsec. (i). Pub. L. 105–258 struck out subsec. (i) which prohibited conference or group of two or more ocean common carriers from denying any member the right to take independent action on any level of compensation paid to an ocean freight forwarder who was also a customs broker, and from agreeing to limit payment to such a forwarder to less than 1.25 percent of aggregate of tariff rates and charges, and set out provisions relating to administration of provisions, remedies for violations, and definitions.

1996—Subsec. (d)(2)(B). Pub. L. 104–295 substituted “the findings of fact” for “his findings of fact” in penultimate sentence.

1993—Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 103–182, § 648(1), inserted at end “It also includes the preparation of documents or forms in any format and the electronic transmission of documents, invoices, bills, or parts thereof, intended to be filed with the Customs Service in furtherance of such activities, whether or not signed or filed by the preparer, or activities relating to such preparation, but does not include the mere electronic transmission of data received for transmission to Customs.”

Subsec. (c)(1). Pub. L. 103–182, § 648(2), amended par. (1) generally. Prior to amendment, par. (1) read as follows: “Each person granted a customs broker’s license under subsection (b) of this section shall—

“(A) be issued a permit, in accordance with regulations prescribed under this section, for each customs district in which that person conducts customs business; and

“(B) except as provided in paragraph (2), regularly employ in each customs district for which a permit is so issued at least one individual who is licensed under subsection (b)(2) of this section to exercise responsible supervision and control over the customs business conducted by that person in that district.”

Subsec. (c)(4). Pub. L. 103–182, § 648(3), added par. (4).

Subsec. (d)(2)(B). Pub. L. 103–182, § 648(4), in first sentence, substituted “Customs Service” for “appropriate customs officer”, in third sentence, substituted “Customs Service” for “appropriate customs officer”, “it shall notify” for “he shall notify”, and “30” for “15”, in sixth sentence, substituted “the Customs Service and the customs broker; which” for “the appropriate customs officer and the customs broker; they”, in the seventh sentence, substituted “the findings of fact” for “his findings of fact”, and in the eighth sentence, substituted “for the decision” for “for his decision”.

Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 103–182, § 648(5), substituted “Customs Service. The Secretary may not prohibit customs brokers from limiting their liability to other persons in the conduct of customs business. For purposes of this subsection or any other provision of this Act pertaining to recordkeeping, all data required to be retained by a customs broker may be kept on microfilm, optical disc, magnetic tapes, disks or drums, video files or any other electrically generated medium. Pursuant to such regulations as the Secretary shall prescribe, the conversion of data to such storage medium may be accomplished at any time subsequent to the relevant customs transaction and the data may be retained in a centralized basis according to such broker’s business system.” for “United States Customs Service.”

1986—Subsec. (i). Pub. L. 99–514 added subsec. (i).

1984—Pub. L. 98–573 amended section generally, substituting provisions relating to customs broker’s licenses and permits for provisions relating to licensing of customhouse brokers.

1980—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 96–417, in second par., substituted in second sentence “filing, in the Court of International Trade” for “filing, in the circuit court of appeals of the United States within any circuit wherein such person resides or has his principal place of business, or in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia” and struck out penultimate sentence which read as follows: “The judgment and decree of the court affirming, modifying, or setting aside, in whole or in part, any such order of the Secretary of the Treasury shall be final, subject to review by the Supreme Court of the United States upon certiorari or certification as provided in 1254 of title 28.”

1978—Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 95–410 added subsec. (e).

1970—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 91–271 substituted references to appropriate officer of the customs for references to collector or chief officer of customs wherever appearing.

1958—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 85–791 in third sentence of second par., substituted “transmitted by the clerk of the court to” for “served upon”, struck out “upon” before “any officer”, “certify and” before “file in the court”, “a transcript of” before “the record upon” and inserted “as provided in section 2112 of title 28”, and in fourth sentence of second par., substituted “petition” for “transcript”.

1935—Subsec. (a). Act Aug. 26, 1935, § 3, substituted “(c)” for “(e)” in last sentence.

Subsecs. (b) to (d). Act Aug. 26, 1935, § 4, amended subsecs. (b) to (d) generally.

Subsec. (e). Act Aug. 26, 1935, § 5, repealed subsec. (e) which related to licenses under the act of June 10, 1910.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date of 1998 Amendment

Pub. L. 105–258, § 2, Oct. 14, 1998, 112 Stat. 1902, provided that: “Except as otherwise expressly provided in this Act [see Tables for classification], this Act and the amendments made by this Act take effect May 1, 1999.”

Effective Date of 1984 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 98–573 effective on close of 180th day following Oct. 30, 1984, with certain exceptions, except that subsec. (c)(1)(B), (2) of this section shall take effect three years after Oct. 30, 1984, see section 214(d) of Pub. L. 98–573, set out as a note under section 1304 of this title.

Effective Date of 1980 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 96–417 applicable with respect to civil actions commenced on or after Nov. 1, 1980, see section 701(b)(2) of Pub. L. 96–417, set out as a note under section 251 of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.

Effective Date of 1970 Amendment

For effective date of amendment by Pub. L. 91–271, see section 203 of Pub. L. 91–271, set out as a note under section 1500 of this title.

Transfer of Functions

For transfer of functions, personnel, assets, and liabilities of the United States Customs Service of the Department of the Treasury, including functions of the Secretary of the Treasury relating thereto, to the Secretary of Homeland Security, and for treatment of related references, see sections 203(1), 551(d), 552(d), and 557 of Title 6, Domestic Security, and the Department of Homeland Security Reorganization Plan of November 25, 2002, as modified, set out as a note under section 542 of Title 6. For establishment of U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the Department of Homeland Security, treated as if included in Pub. L. 107–296 as of Nov. 25, 2002, see section 211 of Title 6, as amended generally by Pub. L. 114–125, and section 802(b) of Pub. L. 114–125, set out as a note under section 211 of Title 6.

Plan Amendments Not Required Until January 1, 1989

For provisions directing that if any amendments made by subtitle A or subtitle C of title XI [§§ 1101–1147 and 1171–1177] or title XVIII [§§ 1801–1899A] of Pub. L. 99–514 require an amendment to any plan, such plan amendment shall not be required to be made before the first plan year beginning on or after Jan. 1, 1989, see section 1140 of Pub. L. 99–514, as amended, set out as a note under section 401 of Title 26, Internal Revenue Code.