(a) General. Every individual broker operating as a sole proprietor, every licensed member of a partnership that is a broker, and every licensed officer of an association or corporation that is a broker must exercise responsible supervision and control (see § 111.1) over the transaction of the customs business of the sole proprietorship, partnership, association, or corporation. A sole proprietorship, partnership, association, or corporation must employ a sufficient number of licensed brokers relative to the job complexity, similarity of subordinate tasks, physical proximity of subordinates, abilities and skills of employees, and abilities and skills of the managers. While the determination of what is necessary to perform and maintain responsible supervision and control will vary depending upon the circumstances in each instance, factors which CBP may consider in its discretion and to the extent any are relevant include, but are not limited to, the following:

(1) The training provided to broker employees;

(2) The issuance of instructions and guidelines to broker employees;

(3) The volume and type of business conducted by the broker;

(4) The reject rate for the various customs transactions relative to overall volume;

(5) The level of access broker employees have to current editions of CBP regulations, the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, and CBP issuances;

(6) The availability of a sufficient number of individually licensed brokers for necessary consultation with employees of the broker;

(7) The frequency of supervisory visits of an individually licensed broker to another office of the broker that does not have an individually licensed broker;

(8) The frequency of audits and reviews by an individually licensed broker of the customs transactions handled by employees of the broker;

(9) The extent to which the individually licensed broker who qualifies the permit is involved in the operation of the brokerage and communications between CBP and the brokerage;

(10) Any circumstances which indicate that an individually licensed broker has a real interest in the operations of a brokerage;

(11) The timeliness of processing entries and payment of duty, tax, or other debt or obligation owing to the Government for which the broker is responsible, or for which the broker has received payment from a client;

(12) Communications between CBP and the broker, and the broker's responsiveness and action to communications, direction, and notices from CBP;

(13) Communications between the broker and its officer(s) or member(s), and the broker's responsiveness and action to communications and direction from its officer(s) or member(s).

(b) Employee information—(1) Current employees. Each national permit holder must submit to the processing Center a list of the names of persons currently employed by the broker. The list of employees must be submitted prior to issuance of a national permit under § 111.19 and before the broker begins to transact customs business. For each employee, the broker must provide the name, social security number, date and place of birth, date of hire, and current home address. After the initial submission, an updated list must be submitted to a CBP-authorized electronic data interchange (EDI) system if any of the information required by this paragraph changes. If a CBP-authorized EDI system is not available, then the information must be provided in writing to the processing Center. The update must be submitted within thirty (30) calendar days of the change.

(2) New employees. Within thirty (30) calendar days of the start of employment of a new employee(s), the broker must submit a list of new employee(s) with the information required under paragraph (b)(1) of this section to a CBP-authorized EDI system. The broker may submit a list of the new employee(s) or an updated list of all employees, specifically noting the new employee(s). If a CBP-authorized EDI system is not available, then the information must be provided in writing to the processing Center.

(3) Terminated employees. Within thirty (30) calendar days after the termination of employment of an employee, the broker must submit a list of terminated employee(s) to a CBP-authorized EDI system. The broker may submit a list of the terminated employee(s) or an updated list of all employees, specifically noting the terminated employee(s). If a CBP-authorized EDI system is not available, then the information must be provided in writing to the processing Center.

(c) Broker's responsibility. Notwithstanding a broker's responsibility for providing the information required in paragraph (b) of this section, in the absence of culpability by the broker, CBP will not hold the broker responsible for the accuracy of any information that is provided to the broker by the employee.

(d) Termination of qualifying member or officer. In the case of an individual broker who is a qualifying member of a partnership for purposes of § 111.11(b) or who is a qualifying officer of an association or corporation for purposes of § 111.11(c)(2), that individual broker must immediately provide written notice to the appropriate Executive Director, Office of Trade, when his employment as a qualifying member or officer terminates and must send a copy of the written notice to the processing Center.

(e) Change in ownership. If the ownership of a broker changes and ownership shares in the broker are not publicly traded, the broker must immediately provide written notice of that fact to the appropriate Executive Director, Office of Trade, and must send a copy of the written notice to the processing Center. When a change in ownership results in the addition of a new principal to the organization, and whether or not ownership shares in the broker are publicly traded, CBP reserves the right to conduct a background investigation on the new principal. The processing Center will notify the broker if CBP objects to the new principal, and the broker will be given a reasonable period of time to remedy the situation. If the background investigation uncovers information which would have been the basis for a denial of an application for a broker's license and the principal's interest in the broker is not terminated to the satisfaction of the processing Center, suspension or revocation proceedings may be initiated under subpart D of this part. For purposes of this paragraph, a “principal” means any person having at least a five (5) percent capital, beneficiary or other direct or indirect interest in the business of a broker.

[T.D. 00-17, 65 FR 13891, Mar. 15, 2000, as amended by CBP Dec. 22-21, 87 FR 63316, Oct. 18, 2022]