Customs Law

Judicial challenges to the grading of the customs brokers license exam are not very common, but they happen. Usually, I have not been super supportive of the plaintiffs. See my maybe too mean-spirited post from 2006. On the other hand, I have gained a lot of respect for Mr. Byungmin Chae, who has been fighting with Customs over his score since taking the April 2018 exam. As background, broker license applicants who fail to pass the 80-question CBLE with a score of 75% or more may ask Customs to reconsider the grading on questions for which applicants believe they should have received credit. 19 CFR § 111.13(f) . If Customs does not change the grade, applicant may seek further review by the Executive Director of the Office of Trade. Any applicant that is not satisfied with the results of that review may sue the United States and ask the Court of International Trade to review the exam scoring.  Photo by Museums Victoria on Unsplash Mr. Chae missed passing the exam by eight questions, wh

In United States v. Zhe "John" Liu , the defendant was accused of a running a scheme to avoid antidumping duties on wire hangers from China by transshipping them through other countries and incorrectly stating the country of origin. The government is seeking to impose a penalty of just under $1 million, which is the domestic value of the merchandise. The defendant moved to dismiss the complaint arguing that it is barred by the statute of limitation and that Mr. Liu is not a proper defendant because he did not import the goods. Let's pause for a moment. First, the fact that this penalty is the domestic value of the merchandise may seem odd. It is not. The complaint asserts that the violation occurred as a result of negligence. Under 19 USC 1592 , the penalty for negligence is usually up to twice the loss of revenue, which will usually be much less than the entered value of the merchandise. However, the statute says that when the violation results from negligence, the penal