NCBFAA Lays Out Worries Over FCC Rule Changes
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America met with Federal Communications Commission officials on Sept. 12 to discuss the role of customs brokers for imported radio frequency devices, the NCBFAA said in an ex parte filing with the agency. The trade group has a number of concerns related to the agency's elimination of the FCC's Form 740 filing requirements for importing RF devices (see 1709110023) and what the NCBFAA sees as new compliance verification burdens for customs brokers (see 1706280065). With the elimination of Form 740, brokers now worry that "if no other party makes 'a determination,' the broker may be liable as one of the parties responsible for the determination, even though the broker does not have sufficient knowledge of the product to make that determination.
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The rule "should recognize brokers for what they do," the association said. "Instead of equating the broker with the importer and consignee, both of whom have an ownership interest in the product and are primary parties to the transaction, the rule should characterize brokers for what they actually do, with responsibilities consistent with that role." Several officials from the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology participated in the meeting. Representatives of the NCBFAA at the meeting included Alan Klestadt, a lawyer with Grunfeld Desiderio; Cindy Thomas, from lobbying firm Kent & O'Connor; Mike Lahar of A.N. Deringer; and Stuart Schmidt of UPS Supply Chains Solutions.
The NCBFAA explained that brokers typically have relationships with traditional freight shipments customers, but far less so for other types of shipments. The FCC should contact CBP to have a look at shipment volume data to "better evaluate the scope of shipments for which there is no broker-importer relationship," the NCBFAA said. "The FCC staff observed that the rulemaking may not make sense if it affects only a relatively small percentage of imported shipments (in which a broker-importer relationship exists)," the association said. The FCC also expressed "interest in a trusted trader program" for that agency, the NCBFAA said. "The trade believes a trusted trader program creates a real benefit for FCC as it allows them to focus on riskier imports."