CIT Grants Customs Broker License Applicant Credit for Final Question Needed to Pass 2022 Exam
Customs broker applicant Brandon Chen, who challenged a number of CBP’s 2022 licensing exam questions at the trade court seeking credit for at least one more, succeeded Sept. 4. He will receive a passing score on the test (Brandon Chen v. United States, CIT # 24-00208).
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Court of International Trade Judge Jane Restani remanded his score to the agency to have it give him credit for question 38 of the April 2022 Customs Broker License Exam. She dismissed the problems Chen alleged with regard to nine other questions.
Chen initially scored 66.25% on the exam; 8.75 percentage points, or seven wrong answers, away from a passing score. He filed his first administrative appeal against 16 exam questions soon after. When that appeal failed, he filed another in April 2023.
His second administrative appeal yielded progress for his final exam score, but couldn’t take it all the way. CBP denied his challenges to 11 questions, giving him credit for five -- questions 13, 33, 45, 64 and 72. That brought him to a 72.5% grade. Chen turned to CIT in 2024.
In response to his CIT complaint, the government gave Chen credit for question 46 of the exam, raising his score to 73.75%. At that point, he only needed credit for one more question to pass the exam.
Three-and-a-half years after taking the test, Restani agreed with his answer for question 38.
Question 38 asked test takers for the proper classification of a 75-page book of crossword puzzles “labeled as appropriate for adults.” It offered five potential answers: Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheadings 4901.99.0093 and 4901.99.0092; subheading 4903.00.0000; and subheadings 9503.00.0090 and 9503.00.0013.
Chen chose answer choice (a), subheading 4901.99.0093, which covers “[p]rinted books, brochures, leaflets and similar printed matter, whether or not in single sheets: Other; Containing 49 or more pages each (excluding covers).” CBP designated the correct answer as (d), subheading 9503.00.0090, which covers “puzzles of all kinds.”
Restani determined that both answer choices were acceptable, as both headings prima facie described the product. She said the crossword book “was not simply a ‘puzzle’ or ‘puzzles,’” but “a printed book that contained crossword puzzles.”
“It is reasonable to interpret ‘puzzles of all kinds’ to mean physical puzzles, like a jigsaw puzzle, rather than a printed book of pages,” she said.
After giving him that final question, Restani dismissed his remaining nine challenges. She explained that none of the procedural questions were too ambiguous to be answered and that the remaining classification questions were properly constructed.