5 November 2007

 

 

 

A consumer product safety bill that passed a Senate committee last week contains a nasty surprise for customs brokers -- the possible loss of their license for repeated entry of unsafe imports.

Commerce, Science and Transportation staff inserted the provision on Oct. 30 during final editing of the Consumer Product Safety Commission Reform Act of 2007, which increases the agency's enforcement authority and funding levels.

The original version of the bill said any importer who repeatedly brings in products that violate consumer product safety law could be referred to Customs and Border Protection to yank its import license.

 

Committee members subsequently realized that there is no such thing as an import license, so they substituted customs brokers as the target of the repeat offender rule because they require a license to do customs business, industry lobbyists involved in the issue said.

Under the provision, brokers found by the Consumer Product Safety Commission to have aided or abetted in the transportation of unsafe products can have their license revoked….

 

Customs broker industry representatives expressed surprise at being included in legislation targeted at the manufacturing industry. Brokers do not have first hand knowledge about the product or suppliers -- they simply process customs documentation and make sure all information passed to them by the customer is properly submitted and import fees paid.

"We told them that a customs broker had no knowledge in almost every instance of the nature of an importation, the specifics about the content of the product, where it was made," said Jon Kent, legislative representative for the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America.

The association wrote co-sponsor Mark Pryor, D-Ark., that "the entire bill talks about responsibilities of manufacturers, retailers and distributors -- parties who are beneficial owners of the product and have contractual relationships with suppliers. Yet, when it comes to the penalty, the legislation turns to the customers’ broker, who is not in a position to choose the supplier or source of a product. This does not make sense from either a legal or practical standpoint."

Lobbyists said they are fighting to strip the provision out of the bill, which now may have to go to the Senate Finance Committee because it involves customs matters. The bill could have gone straight to the Senate floor for a vote if it simply focused on consumer product law and not customs law. Committee staff claim that the customs broker language is just a placeholder until an import penalty solution is found, Kent told Shippers' NewsWire….

 

The bill, which includes measures that impact the import and logistics industries, would also:

   * Ban importation of recalled products.
   * Require independent, third-party certification of children's products.
   * Manda