Trade Compliance Roles and Responsibilities Cheatsheet

A working trade compliance program assigns six functions — import compliance, export compliance, classification, screening, recordkeeping, and audit — to named owners. Job titles matter less than coverage: in a small importer, one person may hold every function; in a multinational, each may be a department. What never changes is where the law puts ultimate responsibility. Under 19 U.S.C. § 1484, the importer of record must use reasonable care to classify, value, and enter its goods, and on the export side the exporter remains responsible for restricted party screening and licensing even when a forwarder files the paperwork. This cheatsheet maps the functions, the roles, and who owns what.

The Six Core Functions of a Trade Compliance Program

A trade compliance program is the set of written procedures and assigned responsibilities a company uses to comply with import and export laws. Whatever your org chart looks like, these six functions must each have an owner:

• Import compliance — entry filing, duty payment, country-of-origin marking, partner government agency requirements (FDA, EPA, CPSC).
• Export compliance — export classification (ECCN), license determinations, and Electronic Export Information filing under the Export Administration Regulations.
• Classification and valuation — assigning correct HTS codes and declaring accurate customs values, the two inputs that drive every duty calculation.
• Screening — checking customers, suppliers, and other transaction parties against the Consolidated Screening List, which combines the restricted party lists of Commerce (Denied Persons, Entity List), State, and Treasury’s OFAC sanctions lists.
• Recordkeeping — retaining entry and export records for the legally required periods (see the retention table below).
• Audit — periodic self-testing of entries, classifications, and screening logs to catch errors before CBP does.

Who’s Who: The Typical Roles

Trade Compliance Officer or Manager

The trade compliance officer is the internal owner of the program: writing procedures, classifying products, running screening, training staff, and serving as the point of contact for brokers and CBP. In companies too small for a dedicated hire, this role is typically absorbed by an operations or supply chain manager — which is fine, as long as the responsibility is assigned in writing.

Customs Broker

A customs broker is a CBP-licensed agent who files entries on the importer’s behalf. Brokers are valuable, but they act on the information you give them — and using one does not transfer your reasonable-care duty. CBP’s own guidance is blunt: hiring a customs broker is evidence of reasonable care, not a substitute for it. Someone inside your company must review what the broker files.

Freight Forwarder

A freight forwarder arranges transportation and, on the export side, often files Electronic Export Information as your agent. In a standard export transaction, the U.S. principal party in interest keeps responsibility for screening, classification, and license determinations regardless of who files.

Legal Counsel

Trade counsel handles the matters where exposure is legal rather than operational: penalty notices, seizures, prior disclosures and voluntary self-disclosures, audits initiated by CBP or BIS, and structuring transactions (first sale, related-party pricing, licensing) before they create problems.

Finance and Accounting

Finance owns the money side of compliance: reconciling duty payments, flagging assists, royalties, and transfer-price adjustments that change customs value, and maintaining the financial records CBP examines in an audit. Valuation errors are the classic gap between finance and compliance — neither team sees the whole picture unless someone connects them.

The Cheatsheet: Responsibilities by Role

This is the heart of the program. The “primary owner” is who does the work; legal responsibility stays with the importer or exporter of record in every row.

What You Cannot Outsource

The reasonable-care standard sits on the importer of record personally. Under 19 U.S.C. § 1484, you — not your broker — are responsible for using reasonable care to classify, value, and enter merchandise, and failures can bring penalties under 19 U.S.C. § 1592 even without lost revenue. The same logic applies to exports: screening every party against the Consolidated Screening List is the exporter’s duty, and “my forwarder handles that” has never been a defense. Outsource the work all you want; the liability stays home.

Recordkeeping: What to Keep and for How Long

Retention periods differ by record type, and the gaps trip up even careful companies:

Note the outlier: OFAC extended its recordkeeping requirement to 10 years in 2024 to match the lengthened sanctions statute of limitations. A retention policy that purges everything at five years is now a sanctions compliance gap.

Right-Sizing the Cheatsheet for a Small Company

A five-person importer does not need five compliance hires; it needs every row of the table above assigned to a name. The pattern that works: one internal owner for classification, screening, and records; a broker relationship that is actively reviewed rather than blindly trusted; finance looped in on valuation; and outside trade counsel on call for penalties, disclosures, and the questions where guessing is expensive. The pattern that fails: assuming the broker and forwarder have it covered.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is legally responsible for import compliance?

The importer of record. Under 19 U.S.C. § 1484, the importer of record must use reasonable care in classifying, valuing, and entering merchandise — and that duty cannot be delegated to a broker, forwarder, or supplier.

Does using a customs broker protect me from penalties?

No. A broker files entries as your agent based on information you supply. Consulting a broker is evidence of reasonable care, but the importer remains liable for errors, including penalties under 19 U.S.C. § 1592.

How long do I have to keep import records?

Generally 5 years from the date of entry under 19 CFR 163.4. Drawback records run 3 years from payment of the claim, export records 5 years under the EAR, and OFAC sanctions records now require 10 years.

What is restricted party screening?

Checking every party to a transaction — customers, consignees, banks, forwarders — against the U.S. government’s Consolidated Screening List, which combines the restricted and sanctioned party lists of the Commerce, State, and Treasury Departments. Exporters must screen before every shipment.

If the table above has more blank “owner” boxes than you’d like, fix that before a CBP inquiry fixes it for you. Reidel Law Firm’s flat-fee import/export compliance memo reviews your classifications, screening, valuation, and recordkeeping and tells you exactly where the gaps are — request yours today.