Four weeks to go - is your CPD in order? (TNF 2015/014)



As we prompted in TNF 2015/007, the current CPD year finishes on 31 March 2015. That is just four weeks to the day from today! Are you ready? Is your CPD 'house' in order or do you need to do some final 'spring cleaning' to get yourself ready? There is still time to get yourself into a compliant situation if you are not there yet. Here is what you need to know to plan for 31 March 2015.

CPD points requirement


Under the CPD Scheme mandated by the Australian Customs and Border Protection service (ACBPS), you are required as, a condition of your customs brokers licence, to attain 30 CPD points per year. These points need to attained within the Streams of the CPD Scheme as follows:
  • Stream 1 (CPD relating to customs brokers obligations, risks and ethics) - a minimum of 10 points are required in this Stream
  • Stream 2 (CPD relating to professional brokerage skills) - a minimum of 10 points are required in this Stream 2 
  • Stream 3 (CPD relating to customs brokerage management) - this is an optional Stream with no minimum requirement. 

 

Ways to attain your CPD


The CBFCA has offered a number of pathways for you to attain your CPD in this current CPD year including the National Conference, Regional Conventions, Legal Forums and online webinars. While we have a Legal Forum scheduled for this week (see TNF 2015/013 sent out earlier today) which is expected to provide for 3 CPD points in Stream 1 and 3 CPD points in Stream 2, in reality if you still need more points than that to meet your mandated requirement, you will need to attain these via webinars as this will be the only timely way to get the balance of your pointscath. To access our extensive library of recorded webinar sessions follow these simple steps:
  1. Login to our College website (http://learning.italc.edu.au) using your College login details. If you are unsure of these details email us. (Note these details are NOT the same as your CBFCA member access details)
  2. On the left hand side of the page under My Course choose the Stream you wish to access (e.g. "Stream 1 2014-2015"). Make sure you choose the current year.
  3. Choose the CPD topic that is of interest to you from the list in our library for each Stream (e.g. "Customs audits and powers")
  4. Click on the recording link to play the recording (the recording link is usually a purple icon)
  5. Click on the assessment link for CPD points and answer the questions. If you get 4 or more correct out of 5 you will be allocated your three CPD points automatically. 

 

What happens after 31 March 2015?


If you have attained your 30 CPD points within the relevant Streams and thereby have met your mandated requirement, chances are you will having nothing further to do. Note that you are NOT required to report your CPD  status to the ACBPS or provide the ACBPS with any evidence of your CPD points
unless:

  • You have NOT met your CPD requirement  - in which case you are required to report this to the ACBPS by no later than 14 April 2015; OR
  • You are audited by the ACBPS

The ACBPS conducted an audit after the end of the last CPD year and we have been advised that they intend to do the same this year. Using the instructions provided in the document above, you can easily prepare a report for the ACBPS on your points attain with the CBFCA. If you need help, let us know.

Good luck to all for this CPD year and may you all be wonderfully compliant at the end of it!

​The Training Team