Course Materials
Obtaining Texts & Supplies for the Exam
Here’s a quick list of the texts and materials you will need both to take the exam and to prepare for it:
- Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (year & version depends on Notice of Examination)
- Regulations of the United States Customs & Border Protection (CBP), also known as 19 CFR 1-199 (version depends on Notice of Examination)
- CBP-issued directives, guidelines & other materials (downloadable from CBP.gov and dependent on the Notice of Examination)
- Binder system for above materials (see below for one recommendation)
- Tabbed dividers (tabbing your materials is essential for time-effective navigation)
- Highlighters of several different colors
- Easy to use, large-buttoned calculator
- Ruler for use with HTSUS
As the above indicates, the legal texts you will be studying and using for the exam are dependent on the official Notice of Examination, which CBP issues two to three months before the exam on CBP.gov . If you haven’t already checked out the critical webpages on CBP.gov concerning the exam, you should do so now. You can start here , and you should browse the various other webpages and sections of CBP.gov routinely. For official and legally reliable information, trust only CBP.gov.
Nothing is as important as the actual studying as far as exam success factors; however, preparing your materials well can save critical time on the exam and provide surprisingly effective support under pressure. Remember: the exam is OPEN BOOK (although electronics are not allowed–other than a calculator). You can and should supplement the regulatory materials with reference material and even so-called “cheat sheets” (quick reference outlines on various topics).
Below are some brief tips on some of the material and texts you will need.
Legal Texts
The applicable Notice of the Examination is your core shopping list for the legal texts you will need for the exam; the Notice is usually found at the exam-related area on CBP.gov. Make sure the Notice is for the exam you are planning to take. (CBP often leaves the previous exam Notice up until a new one for an upcoming exam is posted (usually a few months before the exam)).
Downloading & Printing CBP Documents
Once you have located the Notice, first print out a copy but do not navigate away from the on-line version yet. You will see that there are several documents linked directly from the on-line Notice. On your printed copy of the Notice, highlight all of these documents. (They are usually in a list near the bottom and typically include CBP instructions, guidelines & directives, CATAIR Appendices, etc.)
Next, assuming you have access to a good printer, click each link on the on-line Notice to the various documents, print out a copy of each one of them, checking off that item on your printed Notice as you do. CAREFUL! Do NOT print out the entire CATAIR and hold off on printing out any of the 19 CFR materials for now. (See below for more details.)
Thus, for example, starting with the document entitled “Instructions for Preparation of CBP Form 7501″, click the accompanying link which will take you to the document itself. Print out that document, check it off your printed Notice, and then move on to the next item. Do this until you have checked off all items OTHER THAN the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States and the 19 CFR materials. (After you have a “complete” pile of documents, of course, you will want to binder them by 3-hole punching them and placing them in a binder or binder system (see below).)
CATAIR
The “Customs and Trade Automated User Interface Requirements”, or CATAIR, can be found at the link where it is listed on the Notice. CAREFUL! Unlike the other links, this link takes you to an entire page of documents related to the topic (CATAIR). Whatever you do, do NOT use the link labeled “Download All Sections of ABI User Requirements”, since that will cause you to print about 2000 unnecessary pages. Instead, scroll down to the link labeled “CATAIR Appendices”, click it and simply print out those 5-10 Appendices (usually fairly short) listed on the Notice.
Obtaining the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States & CBP Regulations (19 CFR)
The two principal texts you will be using to prepare and to take the exam are the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) and 19 CFR Parts 1 to 199, better known as the Regulations of the United States Customs & Border Protection (“customs regulations” or “CBP regulations”). Another text that is sometimes included is 19 CFR 200 to end, which include customs related regulations of two other federal agencies–the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) and the Import Administration of the U.S. Commerce Department (DOC). Read the Notice of Exam carefully to determine not only which titles are being used for the exam you are taking, but which year or version of those titles is applicable.
As noted below, you can best obtain all three of these texts by contacting the Government Printing Office. Other options, such as Amazon or eBay or acquaintances who may no longer need their texts, may exist, but if at all possible, obtain a fresh (unmarked) copy of the texts. Used copies, especially those that have been marked up and highlighted extensively, rob you of some incentive to go over the material as closely as you would if you had to highlight and annotate it yourself.
HTSUS (Cost is approximately $140.00 plus shipping–ask about FedEx Ground.)
In obtaining the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS or HTS), check the Notice of Examination to confirm which year and which version of the HTSUS you should obtain. (Believe it or not, this massive document changes every year in ways that actually may make a difference on the exam.) Go to GPO.gov and click on the link to the on-line Government Bookstore. Once there, use the search bar to locate the correct version. (E.g., type in “harmonized tariff schedule”.) For fairly obvious reasons, MAKE SURE YOU SELECT THE LOOSE LEAF VERSION of this text. You do NOT want to struggle more than you have to to turn pages, and you cannot tab/annotate the bound version of the HTS as easily as you can the loose leaf version. If you can “borrow” the applicable tariff schedule from your workplace and you won’t get in trouble for taking it home, marking it up and generally using it like your own book for a while, you may be able to get away with not buying this.
Better to Talk Directly with GPO Bookstore
ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE: It is recommend that you do NOT actually place your order for the HTSUS (or the Customs regs) on-line. CALL THE GPO CUSTOMER SERVICE NUMBER AND ORDER DIRECTLY WITH THE HELP OF A GPO ORDER SPECIALIST. One reason for this is to have the option of ordering Fedex ground shipping. If you are already within three months of the exam, you should seriously consider spending the extra amount (likely less than $20) to request Fedex ground shipping. OTHERWISE, IT MAY TAKE UP TO 4 TO 6 WEEKS TO OBTAIN YOUR TEXT, and unless you had another copy to work with, this would mean that you would lose half of your remaining time to practice classification before the exam.
The cost of the HTSUS is $140.00 (as of April 2011).
Regulations of the U.S. Customs & Border Protection (Looseleaf version is currently $180.00.)
As noted above, the 19 CFR materials are divided into two sets of regulations: the regulations of the Customs & Border Protection (Parts 1 – 199) and the customs related regulations of the USITC (U.S. International Trade Commission) and U.S. DOC (U.S. Department of Commerce) (Parts 200-399). The latter is only sometimes included on the list of materials in the Notice of Examination. You may not need to purchase it. The Regulations of U.S. CBP, however, are absolutely necessary, and as noted above, it is better to obtain a new and clean copy of these regulations.
Note that, like the HTSUS, you can obtain the Regulations from the GPO and can search for them using the on-line bookstore at GPO.gov . Make sure you order the correct title. Technically, the regulations are equivalent to 19 CFR 1-199; however, the bookstore has prepared a separate version that is LOOSE LEAF and entitled Regulations of the U.S. Customs & Border Protection. If you can, order this LOOSE LEAF version since you can then put it into a binder and manipulate it better than the bound 19 CFR versions.
NOTE THAT THE LOOSE LEAF VERSION OF REGULATIONS IS AVAILABLE BUT IS LISTED AS “REVISED AS OF SEPTEMBER 30, 2009″. THIS IS BECAUSE THE LOOSE LEAF VERSION IS ALSO A SUBSCRIPTION VERSION AND IS DELIVERED WITH UPDATES THAT BRING THE SEPTEMBER 2009 VERSION UP TO DATE AS OF TODAY.** Please discuss with a GPO customer service representative to clarify and confirm as necessary.
**DO NOT INSERT THE UPDATES UNTIL YOU READ THE APPLICABLE NOTICE OF EXAMINATION SINCE YOU MAY NOT NEED TO UPDATE TO THE MOST CURRENT VERSION. Also, if you update, make sure you insert the update packages from oldest to the newest. In other words, do NOT simply insert the latest updates and throw away the earlier ones. All the updates must be inserted from oldest to newest in order to update correctly. The cost of the loose leaf version of the CBP regulations is $180.00. If you are within three months of the exam, you should definitely ask for expedited (FedEx ground) delivery of these materials!
Recommended Binder System (Catalog Rack and “Post Section” binding–~$215)
You will need to put your new tariff into a binding “system” that will make them as easily accessible as possible both for test purposes (studying and day-of) as well as work/office. The preferred method for this is to use MASTER “ring & post sections” and catalog rack, obtainable at various outlets, including Office Depot & Staples. (Search on the internet for “master catalog rack”.) Because of the ever-expanding amount of material that is considered subject to testing on the exam, it would be prudent to obtain two racks, one 12-inch rack and one 6-inch rack. (Yes, the properly prepared exam candidate will be able to navigate over 1.5 feet of double-side pages of legal reference material quickly and accurately by the time of the exam. )
This binder system is not cheap, but it is highly recommended. A side by side comparison of look-up time between someone with the catalog rack system versus someone with large 3-inch binders demonstrates how much faster the catalog rack system is. When the difference between passing and not passing the exam can sometimes be measured in minutes (i.e. to obtain that one needed point), the added expense seems justified. However, if you can find discounts through internet searches or friends who no longer need this equipment, by all means do so.
Master Ring And Post Section, Ring, 2″ Capacity, $9.99/each (If you use two racks–a 12″ and a 6″, you will need to obtain a total of 9 (nine) two inch Post Sections.)
Master Catalog Rack, Gray, 12 Sections , $74.99; 6 sections, $59.99
Tabbing Your Materials
Your HTSUS has 99 Chapters, more than 30 General Notes, and numerous other sections that you will have trouble finding quickly unless they are tabbed. You will therefore need to purchase approximately 250 (and more like 300 if you also plan to tab your 19 CFR regulations & other study material) tab dividers, i.e. insertable sheets that have clear plastic tab holders on them in which you insert the tab labels. You can find these at most stationery stores, such as Costco, Office Max or Office Depot. SJC has pre-made tab dividers with labels for purchase. Please ask if you do not want to bother with the task of creating the tabs yourself.