The 60th Customs Specialist Examination in Japan takes place on October 4, 2026. Prepare for its three subjects using the statutes and related rules in force on July 1, 2026, with document preparation and calculation practice for the practical-procedures subject. Applications closed on August 4; the guide below explains the assessment, exemptions and exam-day requirements for registered candidates.
What the 2026 examination certifies
The Customs Specialist Examination (通関士試験) is run by Japan's Ministry of Finance to judge whether a candidate has the knowledge and ability a customs specialist needs. Passing earns you a certificate; actually performing customs work requires a further confirmation step through an employer.
This guide covers the 60th sitting, held in Reiwa 8 (2026). The Ministry of Finance states that the exam exists to determine whether candidates have the knowledge and abilities required of a customs specialist (通関士). If you pass, the certificate is mailed to you, and the results are also published on the Japan Customs website and in the official gazette.
One point candidates often miss: the certificate alone does not let you perform customs work. Under the Customs Business Act, working as a customs specialist requires a confirmation from the Minister of Finance, applied for by the customs broker that employs you. The exam is therefore the entry credential, and the confirmation step comes after you join a brokerage.
Everything below — dates, subjects, scoring, fees, and exemption rules — comes from the official 2026 candidate guide for the 60th sitting. Later sittings publish their own guides, so always confirm details against the current document.
Who can sit and how partial exemptions work
Anyone may sit the exam: there are no restrictions by education, age, career history, or nationality. Experienced customs professionals can apply to have specific subjects exempted based on accumulated work periods.
Eligibility is the simplest part of this exam. The Ministry of Finance imposes no restrictions by education, age, career, or nationality, so you can apply regardless of your background.
Partial exemptions reward documented experience. Fifteen or more cumulative years in a customs broker's customs operations, or in government customs and tariff affairs, exempts you from subjects 《2》 and 《3》. Five or more cumulative years in a customs broker's customs operations exempts you from subject 《3》 only. The guide is explicit that purely mechanical work — data entry you perform without your own judgment, typing, couriering, cargo inspection — does not count toward these periods.
Periods are counted in whole months, with the starting month and the closing month each counting as one. If you left and returned to qualifying work, the periods are calculated separately and summed; if you leave and rejoin within the same month, that month counts once as continuous work. To claim an exemption for the first time, you file a dedicated application form with a certificate from your employer or former government office, submitted together with your exam application during the reception window. Once issued, the exemption notice has no expiry date — but an exemption granted on false evidence can lead to a ban from the exam or cancellation of a pass, potentially for up to two years.
The worked example below uses these exact counting rules, so it doubles as practice for deciding whether you qualify.
Worked example
You are applying for the 60th sitting, with the application deadline of August 4, 2026. You worked in a customs broker's customs operations from the beginning of April 2020 to the end of March 2023, left that job, and returned to customs broker work in June 2023, remaining employed through the application deadline. Assume the work involves genuine customs judgment rather than mechanical input tasks. Which subjects can you ask to have exempted, and which must you take?
Show answer
Only subject 《3》 can be exempted. You must sit 《1》 and 《2》.
Count each period in whole months, with the starting month and the closing month each counting as one. Period one runs April 2020 through March 2023: 36 months. For period two you were still employed at the deadline, so the period runs to the application closing date — June 2023 through August 2026: 7 months in 2023, plus 12 in 2024, plus 12 in 2025, plus 8 in 2026, for 39 months. The two periods total 75 months, or 6 years and 3 months. That clears the five-year threshold for customs broker work, which exempts subject 《3》 only. The fifteen-year threshold that would also exempt 《2》 is not reached. Keep the assumptions in mind: the work must genuinely require customs judgment, and you must file the exemption application with an employer certificate together with your exam application during the reception window.
Three subjects, one day: format and scoring
The exam runs on October 4, 2026, in three written mark-sheet sessions: 《1》 Customs Business Act, 《2》 the Customs Act, Customs Tariff Act, and related laws, and 《3》 customs document preparation and practical procedures. You must meet the passing standard in every subject.
All three subjects are written tests answered on mark sheets — pre-printed answer cards you fill in with an HB or B pencil. In the selection-style items you either choose the best phrase to fill a blank in a sentence, or pick multiple statements marked "correct" or "incorrect" from five options. Calculation-style items require working through numbers. The 《3》 document-preparation part includes one export declaration question and one import declaration question in the NACCS-based format used in the previous (59th) sitting — NACCS is Japan's electronic customs declaration system.
The passing standard is set per subject, and you must satisfy it in all three; a strong total cannot rescue a weak subject. The specific criteria are announced only when results are published, not beforehand, so no one can tell you in advance exactly how many points each subject needs.
| Subject and session | Selection questions | Single-answer questions | Calculation or mixed questions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Customs Business Act, 9:30–10:20 | 13 questions, 41 points | 4 questions, 4 points | None listed |
| 2. Customs and tariff laws, 11:00–12:40 | 17 questions, 49 points | 11 questions, 11 points | None listed |
| 3. Customs documents and practical procedures, 13:50–15:30 | Other practical work: 5 questions, 10 points | Other practical work: 3 questions, 3 points | Documents: 2 mixed questions, 20 points. Other practical work: 6 calculation questions, 12 points. |
Historical pass rates, in context
Pass rates over the five most recent sittings ranged from 12.4% to 24.2%, most recently 15.1%. These are historical records; the criteria change with each sitting and are published only at the results stage.
The official guide records the following results for past sittings: 15.8% for the 55th (2021), 19.1% for the 56th (2022), 24.2% for the 57th (2023), 12.4% for the 58th (2024), and 15.1% for the 59th (2025). Treat these as context on how selective the exam has been, not as a prediction for the 60th — the passing standard is announced only with the results, and it can differ from sitting to sitting.
Because each subject has its own passing standard, review all subjects you are required to take. A stronger result in the law subjects cannot compensate for missing the standard in document preparation and practical procedures.
What the questions actually cover
Question scope is defined by statute: each subject covers its named laws plus related cabinet orders, ministerial ordinances, public notices, and circulars in force on July 1, 2026. Treaties such as TIR and economic partnership agreements are explicitly outside the scope of subjects 《1》 and 《2》.
The candidate guide fixes the scope date precisely: for every subject, the tested material is the laws themselves plus their related cabinet orders, ministerial ordinances, public notices, and administrative circulars as in force on July 1, 2026. Just as important is what is excluded: for subjects 《1》 and 《2》, treaties such as the TIR Convention and economic partnership agreements (EPAs) are not in the question scope. Checking the statute list and its edition date before you buy study materials is one of the highest-value ten minutes of preparation.
Subject 《1》 covers the Customs Business Act, including questions on accredited customs brokers (認定通関業者) as defined in Article 79-2 of the Customs Act. Subject 《2》 covers the Customs Act, the Customs Tariff Act, other tariff-related laws named in the guide, and Chapter 6 of the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act. Subject 《3》 tests how customs documents are prepared and the practical side of customs procedures.
For a topic map, Japan Customs' own import/export procedures pages group official guidance into item classification and tariff rates, customs valuation, origin determination, and procedures — including classification and valuation examples and advance ruling answers. Those groups align well with what subjects 《2》 and 《3》 demand, and they give you a checklist of areas to cover without guessing at weights, which the guide does not publish.
Sources: Japan Customs 60th customs broker examination: 2026 candidate guide — official candidate guide PDF (受験案内); 輸出入手続 : 税関 Japan Customs — import/export procedures resource page
Preparation priorities and official materials
Build your plan around the official statute list for each subject, Japan Customs' published guidance and examples, and regular written practice with an approved calculator. The following steps are preparation advice, not official requirements.
Start with the candidate guide and its July 1, 2026 scope date. Japan Customs' examination hub links prior sitting and results pages. Its import/export procedures pages also link classification, valuation and origin guidance and examples that can support your review of the named subject areas.
- Read each subject's named statutes first, then the subordinate instruments, so definitions and procedures come from the source the exam draws on.
- Include calculation practice for subject 3 and use a calculator that meets the published conditions.
- For subject 3, review the specified NACCS-style format for one export declaration and one import declaration question.
- Buy or borrow an approved basic calculator early and do all practice on it, since you will not be lent one on exam day.
- Optional: keep an error log keyed to subject and item type, and re-attempt logged items in timed mixed sets near the end of your schedule. This is a study routine, not an official requirement or a readiness guarantee.
Sources: Japan Customs 60th customs broker examination: 2026 candidate guide — official candidate guide PDF (受験案内); 通関士試験 : 税関 Japan Customs — customs specialist examination hub page; 輸出入手続 : 税関 Japan Customs — import/export procedures resource page
Application dates and routes for the 60th sitting
The 2026 application window ran from July 21 to August 4 and is now closed. Paper applications were, in principle, submitted by mail, with regional customs offices providing submission details. The published fees were ¥3,000 for paper filing and ¥2,900 for NACCS electronic filing.
The 60th sitting introduced a general mail-submission rule for paper applications. The candidate guide directs applicants to the customs office responsible for their chosen region for submission details. NACCS was the electronic alternative, but applicants still had to submit a physical admission ticket and complete payment by the specified deadline.
For registered candidates, the next steps are to check the assigned venue and admission ticket. If the ticket has not arrived, contact the customs office to which you applied. Requests for accommodations were to be made with the application; the guide warns that requests immediately before the exam may not be accommodated.
If your name, domestic address or contact details change after applying, send the specified change notification to the responsible customs office so that it arrives by October 27, 2026. The guide states that the examination fee is not refunded for nonattendance.
Sources: Japan Customs 60th customs broker examination: 2026 candidate guide — official candidate guide PDF (受験案内); 第60回通関士試験（令和８年） : 税関 Japan Customs — 60th examination page
Exam-day rules worth knowing
Bring your admission ticket — without it you cannot enter — and arrive by 9:00 am, thirty minutes before the start. Calculators with only basic functions are permitted, and only during the 《3》 session.
Your exam venue is printed on your admission ticket and announced on the customs websites, and you cannot sit at a different venue from the one assigned. Gather at the venue by 9:00 am; candidates late at the start time are in principle not admitted. Each session begins with announcements fifteen minutes ahead, so be seated by then. Once the exam starts, there is no leaving the room during the first thirty minutes or the last ten minutes.
Calculators are permitted only during subject 3. The guide allows numerical-memory functions such as MC, MR and M+, but prohibits program input or storage, character input, and scientific-calculator functions. It also sets display-position and built-in-power conditions and states that calculators are not lent on site. Check your model against the examples on page 9.
Fill in the answer sheet using the specified HB or B black pencil or mechanical pencil, and use a plastic eraser for corrections. A watch or stopwatch must have no communication or calculation function. Phones and wearable electronic devices may not be used during the exam. Drinks are limited to the permitted plastic bottles, kept capped at your feet when not drinking.
Final checklist and official documents
For the October 4 sitting, check your admission ticket, assigned venue, writing tools and calculator. Website results are scheduled for November 10, 2026; check the official page for any notices.
Results are scheduled for November 10, 2026 (planned) on the Japan Customs website, with successful candidates' exam numbers in the official gazette on November 20 (planned). Certificates are mailed; if yours has not arrived by December 4, contact the customs office overseeing your exam venue. Venue pages for each regional customs office publish local details, including specific exam halls.
- Review the three subject areas against the July 1, 2026 legal scope date, excluding only subjects covered by your approved exemption.
- Check your admission ticket and assigned venue; contact the responsible customs office if the ticket is missing.
- Prepare the specified writing tools and a calculator that meets the published conditions for subject 3.
- Arrive by 9:00 am and follow the instructions for each later session.
- Use the free practice questions for additional revision and check official notices before travelling.
Sources: Japan Customs 60th customs broker examination: 2026 candidate guide — official candidate guide PDF (受験案内); 第60回通関士試験（令和８年） : 税関 Japan Customs — 60th examination page
Sources
Facts checked against the official candidate guide: