Guide
Designated references
The CBLE is open-book against a fixed list. Every answer is somewhere in these documents — which is exactly why the exam is a navigation test rather than a memory test.
For the October 2026 sitting
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States
2026 Basic Edition
The tariff itself. Classification questions live here, and so does every duty-rate lookup. The General Rules of Interpretation at the front are the part you must know cold — they decide the heading before any chapter is opened.
Title 19, Code of Federal Regulations
2025 Annual Edition (Parts 1 to End)
The regulations. Entry, valuation, marking, bonds, drawback, broker compliance under Part 111 — the larger half of the exam. Knowing which part a subject lives in is worth more than remembering any single rule.
ACE Entry Summary Instructions
Version 2.4a
Field-by-field instructions for the entry summary. Practical-exercise questions that ask what goes in which block are answered here, not in the CFR.
Right to Make Entry (RTME) Directive 3530-002A
3530-002A
Who may make entry. A short directive that answers a predictable cluster of questions and is easy to overlook because it is not a regulation.
ACE Entry Summary Business Process Document
Version 12 (Ch 1-24, Dec 2023)
The business-process view of entry summary. Broad, procedural, and the one candidates most often leave unopened — worth at least knowing its table of contents.
What the electronic viewer will and won’t do
| You can | You can’t |
|---|---|
| Search one document at a time | Search across references at once |
| See a match | Jump to the next match |
| Read on screen | Copy or paste any text |
| Bring your own printed copies | Bring anything not on the designated list |
You can rehearse exactly this. Our 19 CFR navigator carries the same crippled search, and the timed mock puts it next to the clock.
What is worth printing
Candidates typically wheel printed references in on a small rolling crate. What earns its weight is anything you would otherwise have to find: the GRIs, the section and chapter notes for the chapters you are weakest in, and a one-page map of which subject lives in which part of 19 CFR. The full text of every part is heavy and rarely opened.
The exam-day guide has the print checklist and the current crate rules.
Common questions
- What references are allowed on the customs broker exam?
- The exam is open-book against a fixed list of designated references, provided electronically in the exam software. For the October 2026 sitting these are the 2026 Basic Edition HTSUS, Title 19 CFR 2025 Annual Edition, ACE Entry Summary Instructions v2.4a, the Right to Make Entry directive 3530-002A, and the ACE Entry Summary Business Process Document v12.
- Can I bring my own printed copies?
- Yes. CBP allows candidates to bring printed copies of the designated references, and most candidates do, because the electronic viewer's search is slow to work with. Tabs and annotations in your own printed copies are the usual approach.
- Can I search the electronic references during the exam?
- You can search, but the search is deliberately limited: it behaves like a bare Ctrl+F with no jump-to-next-match and no copy-paste. That limitation, not the difficulty of the rules, is what most often runs candidates out of time.
- Which edition applies to my sitting?
- Each sitting fixes its own editions, and they change between cycles. Always confirm the list for your own sitting on CBP's exam notice before printing anything.
Reference editions as recorded for this sitting; confirm against CBP’s exam notice before exam day. HTSUS and 19 CFR are works of the U.S. government (17 U.S.C. §105). Independent study product; not affiliated with CBP.