importation or exportation of merchandise under customs or internalrevenue laws. He is also entitled, without further license or enrollment, to represent claimants or other persons before the Treasury Department in Washington in any matter in which he acted as a customhouse broker in any district in which he is licensed. When serving in such capacity, a licensed customhouse broker shall, in addition to being subject to the provisions of section 641, 46 Stat. 759; 19 U.S.C. 1641, and the rules and regulations thereunder, be subject also to all the provisions of the laws and regulations set forth in Treasury Department Circular No. 230 (Part 10 of this title), as revised from time to time, and shall be responsible as specified in § 11.7 (d) of this part for violations of any such laws or regulations committed by his or its officers, employees, or authorized attorneys or agents, in connection with the prosecution on behalf of the principal of any business before the Treasury Department in Washington.*† 11.6 Licenses for more than one customs district. Separate licenses shall be required if the licensee desires to transact customs business in more than one customs district. However, a licensee having a license in force in one district may on application to the Committee be granted a license to transact business in another district without further examination, provided it appears on investigation that the licensee is authorized to do business in the State or States in which such other district is situated, and is prepared and qualified to render efficient service in such other district. Licenses may be granted to partnerships with two licensed members, and to corporations and associations with two licensed officers, whether or not such members or officers are licensed in the district for which the partnership, corporation, or association license is granted.** CROSS REFERENCE: For list of customs districts and ports, see 19 CFR 1.2. 11.7 License, when not required-(a) Dealing for one's own account. An importer or exporter transacting customs business solely on his own account and in no sense on behalf of another is not required to be licensed, nor are his authorized regular employees or officers who act only for him in the transaction of such business. (b) Transportation in bond by common carrier. A common carrier transporting merchandise for another may make entry for such merchandise for transportation in bond without being licensed as a customhouse broker. (c) Agents employed by one or more vessels. A resident agent employed by one or more vessels or lines of vessels is not required to be licensed as a customhouse broker in order merely to enter or clear vessels consigned to him by a principal. Proof of the agency must be filed with the collector. (d) Employees of licensed brokers. An employee of a licensed customhouse broker is not required to be licensed in order to act solely for his employer, but in order that such employee may sign customs documents on behalf of his employer the broker must file with the collector a power of attorney for that purpose. Each broker shall file with the collector at each port where the business is to be transacted an authorization specifically naming each employee who may properly act for him. Á broker must promptly give notice of *†For statutory and source citations, see note to § 11.1. Page 27 = any change in the authority of such employees and must exercise such supervision of them as will insure proper conduct on the part of the employees in the transaction of customs business. Each broker will be held strictly responsible for the acts or omissions of his employees within the scope of their employment, and for acts or omissions of such employees which, in the exercise of reasonable care and diligence, the broker should have foreseen. Every attorney in fact acting for a licensed customhouse broker must be a resident of the United States.*t CROSS REFERENCES: For Bureau of Customs regulations relating to unlading or lading of vessels, see 19 CFR Part 2. For transportation in bond and merchandise in transit, see 19 CFR Part 16. 11.8 Books and papers-(a) Authority of Secretary. The Tariff Act of 1930, section 641 (d), as amended, provides: The Secretary of the Treasury shall prescribe such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary to protect importers and the revenue of the United States, and to carry out the provisions of this section, including rules and regulations requiring the keeping of books, accounts, and records by customhouse brokers, and the inspection thereof, and of their papers, documents, and correspondence by, and the furnishing by them of information relating to their business to, any duly accredited agent of the United States. (b) Requirements. The following rules as to books and records are prescribed for the guidance and information of brokers: (1) Each licensed customhouse broker shall maintain correctly and in orderly itemized manner, and keep current, records of account reflecting all his financial transactions as a customhouse broker. He shall keep and maintain on file a copy of each entry made by him, and copies of all his correspondence and other papers relating to his customs business. (2) Except as provided in paragraph (b) (3) of this section, each licensed customhouse broker shall, after 90 days after the effective date of the regulations in this part, keep on customs Form 3079 (Record of Transactions of Licensed Customhouse Broker), in accordance with the instructions printed thereon, records of all customs business transacted by him in behalf of his clients. If a transaction has been handled only in part by the broker, he need fill in only the appropriate part of his customs Form 3079. Records on customs Form 3079 shall be in addition to, and not in lieu of, the regular records of account required by paragraph (b) (1) of this section to be kept and maintained. (3) If the data prescribed to be recorded on customs Form 3079 are disclosed in other records regularly kept and maintained by a licensed broker in a systematic, convenient, and readily available form which will permit an effective inspection thereof by duly accredited agents of the United States, such broker may, by notice in writing from the collector of customs for the district, be exempted from the requirements of paragraph (b) (2) of this section. Such notice of exemption shall be issued only if (i) a broker makes written application therefor to the collector, setting forth the facts as to the records he keeps and agreeing that if the exemption is granted he will not change his system of records or his manner of keeping and maintaining them without notification to and prior approval by the said Page 28 **For statutory and source citations, see note to § 11.1. collector and (ii) the collector and the supervising customs agent for the district are satisfied that the records are and will be kept and maintained by the broker in conformity with the conditions above stated. (4) A broker having a license on the effective date of the regulations in this part who makes application for exemption within 90 days after such date, will be relieved of the requirement of keeping records on customs Form 3079 pending consideration of his application by the collector and supervising customs agent; but if such application shall be denied, the broker shall forthwith, upon written notification of the denial, keep and maintain records on customs Form 3079 as above provided. (5) Whenever it shall appear to the satisfaction of the collector, upon investigation by a duly accredited agent of the United States, that a broker to whom an exemption has been granted as provided in paragraph (b) (3) of this section is not keeping and maintaining records in conformity with the requirements of the said paragraph (b) (3), the exemption of such broker shall be revoked by notice in writing from the collector, and such broker shall thereafter keep and maintain records on customs Form 3079 as above provided. (6) All of the books and papers required by the foregoing provisions of this section shall be kept on file for at least 5 years and maintained in such manner that they may readily be examined. Any or all of such books and papers shall be made available to duly accredited agents of the United States on demand therefor within 5 years after their preparation or receipt by the broker, or within such longer period of time during which they remain in the possession of the broker. The broker shall also furnish such additional information regarding his activities as a licensed customhouse broker as such agents may require. (7) The supervising customs agent in charge of the agency district, or a customs agent designated by him, shall make such inspection of the books and papers required by this part to be kept and maintained by a licensed customhouse broker as may be necessary to enable the supervising customs agent, the collector of customs, and other proper officials of the Treasury Department to determine whether or not the broker is complying with the requirements of this section. Furthermore, the supervising customs agent or any duly accredited agent of the United States designated by him may at any time, for the purpose of protecting importers or the revenue of the United States, inspect such books and papers to obtain information regarding specific customs transactions. (8) The agent making any investigation contemplated by the preceding subparagraph shall report his findings in full to the Committee, the Commissioner of Customs, and the collector of customs.*+ CROSS REFERENCE: For list of customs districts and ports, see 19 CFR 1.2. 11.9 Other duties and obligations of licensed customhouse brokers. (a) The duties and obligations specified in this section and elsewhere in this part relating to customhouse brokers are not to be construed as exclusive, since the Secretary of the Treasury may deem conduct not within the purview of any specification in this part to *For statutory and source citations, see note to § 11.1. Page 29 be such as would also warrant the suspension or revocation of a license under the authority conferred upon him by section 641 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (46 Stat. 759; 19 U.S.C. 1641), as amended. (b) No licensed customhouse broker shall permit his license or his name to be used by or for any unlicensed person, or by or for any broker whose license is under suspension, in the solicitation, promotion, or performance of any customs business or transaction. (c) No licensed customhouse broker shall accept or retain employment from or with an unlicensed employer to transact customs business for others than the employer in such manner that the fees or other benefits resulting from the services rendered by the licensed broker for others inure to the benefit of the unlicensed employer. (d) No licensed customhouse broker shall knowingly and directly or indirectly (1) accept employment to effect a customs transaction as associate, correspondent, officer, employee, agent, or sub-agent, from any person whose application for a license as a customhouse broker shall at any time have been denied for a cause involving moral turpitude, or whose license shall have been revoked for any such cause, or whose license is under suspension, or who is notoriously disreputable, or (2) assist the furtherance of any customs business or transaction of such person, or (3) employ, or accept such assistance from, any such person, or (4) share fees with any such person, or (5) permit any such person directly or indirectly to participate, whether through ownership or otherwise, in the promotion, control, or direction of the business of the licensed broker: Provided, That nothing herein shall be deemed to prohibit any licensed customhouse broker from acting as a customhouse broker for any bona fide importer or exporter, notwithstanding such importer or exporter may have been denied a license as a customhouse broker or had his license revoked or suspended, or may be disreputable. (e) No licensed customhouse broker shall act in behalf of any person, or attempt to represent any person, in respect of any protest or appeal to reappraisement, unless he shall previously have been specifically or generally authorized to do so by such person. (f) No licensed customhouse broker shall knowingly use false and misleading representations to procure employment in any customs matter, nor shall he represent to a client or prospective client that he can obtain extraordinary favors from the Treasury Department or any representative thereof. (g) No licensed customhouse broker shall represent a client before the Treasury Department or any representative thereof in any matter to which the broker, as officer or employee, gave personal consideration, or as to the facts of which he gained knowledge, while in the Government service. (h) No licensed customhouse broker shall knowingly (1) assist a person who has been employed by a client in a matter pending before the Treasury Department or any representative thereof to which matter such person gave personal consideration or gained personal knowledge of the facts or issues thereof while in the Government service, or (2) accept assistance in any such matter from any such person, or (3) share fees in any such matter with any such person. Page 30 (i) No licensed customhouse broker shall suggest to a client or a prospective client a plan known to be illegal for evading payment of any duty, tax, or other debt or obligation owing to the Government. (j) Each licensed customhouse broker who knows that a client has not complied with the law or has made any error in, or omission from, any document, affidavit, or other paper which the law requires such client to execute, shall advise his client promptly of the fact of such non-compliance, error, or omission. (k) Each licensed customhouse broker shall exercise due diligence to ascertain the correctness of any information which he imparts to a client with reference to any customs business; and no licensed customhouse broker shall knowingly impart to a client false information relative to any such business when such false information is or might be detrimental to the interests of the Government, the client, or any other person. (1) No licensed customhouse broker shall withhold information relative to any customs business from a client who is entitled to the information. (m) Each licensed customhouse broker shall promptly pay over to the Government when due all sums received for the payment of any duty, tax, or other debt or obligation owing to the Government, and shall promptly account to clients for funds received for them from the Government, or received from a client in excess of the governmental or other charges properly payable in respect of the client's customs business. (n) No licensed customhouse broker shall without authority of his client endorse or accept any Government draft, check, or warrant drawn to the order of such client. (0) No licensed customhouse broker who has recommended to his client an attorney shall demand of, or accept from, such attorney any fee or remuneration by reason of such recommendation without the knowledge and consent of the client. (p) No licensed customhouse broker shall file or procure or assist in the filing of any claim, or of any document, affidavit, or other paper, known by such broker to be false, nor shall knowingly give, or solicit or procure the giving of, any false or misleading information or testimony in any matter pending before the Treasury Department or any representative thereof. (q) Each licensed customhouse broker shall exercise due diligence in answering correspondence, in making financial settlements, and in preparing, or assisting in the preparation of, and filing documents, affidavits, and other papers relating to any matter handled by him as a customhouse broker. (r) No licensed customhouse broker shall procure, or attempt to procure, directly or indirectly, information from Government records or other Government sources of any kind to which access is not granted by proper authority. (s) No licensed customhouse broker shall attempt to influence the conduct of any representative of the_Treasury Department in any matter pending before the Treasury Department or any representative thereof, by the use of a threat, false accusation, duress, or the Page 31 |