Customs Broker
The licensed agent who prepares and files a customs entry: the scope of the authority, direct and indirect representation, and why liability stays with the importer.
A customs broker is a licensed agent who prepares and files customs declarations, computes the duty and import tax, and interfaces with the customs system on an importer’s behalf. The broker acts as agent; the declaration remains the importer’s, and so does the liability for an undervaluation, a misclassification or a wrong origin claim.
European Union law distinguishes two forms of representation under Union Customs Code Article 18. A direct representative acts in the name of and on behalf of another person. An indirect representative acts in its own name but on behalf of another, and under Article 77(3) becomes a customs debtor in its own right, with the principal jointly liable. That distinction is what prices a representation mandate.
The full article will cover licensing regimes and the United States customs broker examination, the scope of a power of attorney, the reasonable-care standard, brokerage fee structures and their per-line and other-government-agency add-ons, professional indemnity exposure, and the circumstances in which a forwarder will decline an indirect mandate.