Background

Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg P.A., has announced that beginning Nov. 1 it will be able to accredit non-government agency training materials for purposes of the new continuing education requirement for licensed customs brokers. Accreditations are expected to be effective as of Jan. 1, 2025, and valid for 12 months.

“ST&R is proud to be one of only five organizations, and the only law firm, selected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to serve as accreditors,” said Lenny Feldman, who serves as managing partner, Operating Committee, for the firm. “Customs brokers are a vital component of today’s global supply chains and we take seriously our responsibility to ensure the quality of the materials they will use to keep their skills current.”

In June 2023 CBP issued regulations that will require individual customs broker license holders to complete at least 36 continuing education credits every three years. Brokers will be able to earn CE credits for coursework, seminars, webinars, workshops, symposia, conferences, and other training or educational activities related to import, brokerage, or international trade topics. However, such services offered by corporations, non-profit organizations, or foreign government agencies will only qualify for CE credits if they have been approved beforehand by an accreditor.

After months of diligent collaborative efforts with the five accreditors, CBP has finalized the process by which qualifying educational materials may be accredited. Starting Nov. 1. service providers will be able to submit their materials to ST&R, which will conduct a thorough review to ensure those materials meet the applicable criteria before assigning CE credits.

“What’s particularly important to know about this process is that we can accredit more services and materials than may initially be obvious,” said ST&R Senior Counsel Paula Connelly, who has been involved in broker education initiatives for decades and is leading ST&R’s accreditation program. “Of course this includes third-party training services designed to provide CE credits for customs brokers. But we can also accredit corporate internal training as meeting the CE requirements for a company’s own brokers. Moreover, brokers can have the time they spend preparing educational materials for internal or external presentations accredited as meeting their own CE requirements.”

Not only will ST&R now be able to accredit third-party services as meeting the broker CE requirements, Feldman added, but as an education provider itself it will also work to quickly obtain accreditation for its own training program that for decades has enabled brokers, importers, exporters, and others to earn recognized credits for participating in seminars and webinars on a broad range of trade and customs topics.

Connelly will conduct a webinar Nov. 14 to provide more details about the CE requirements and the accreditation process. Click here for more information or to register to attend.

Visit https://cbpaccreditor.strtrade.com/ to submit a course for CE accreditation.

 

Professional

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Paula M. Connelly
Senior Member
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Lenny P. Feldman
Managing Partner, Operating Committee
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