Canada Border Services Agency's (CBSA) Commercial Transportation Agenda: Planned Initiatives for the Rest of the Year

The World Customs Organization (WCO) has challenged customs agencies around the world to streamline technologies, adopt new practices, be more unconventional with their problem solving, and renew partnerships. In response, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has explored potential areas of transformation and analyzed the agency’s own evolution to identify client challenges, technical changes that need to be made, best practices for partners, and how the country can improve its global customs environment. Here are the planned initiatives for the rest of the year included in the CBSA Commercial Transportation Agenda.

 

CBSA Goals and Implementation

 

CBSA regulations has national safety and security at its core, and recent mandates have a similar focus. There is an increase in the amount of information required to be submitted by supply chain participants before the cargo arrives in Canada or before it is loaded onto the transport at the foreign port. Other programs have been rolled out to streamline information exchange and increase security.

 

Current and planned initiatives of the CBSA

Single Window. A single window for all commercial processes, modes of transport and cargo movements will simplify information exchange.

 

Advance Commercial Information (ACI). CBSA officials need the right information at the right time (in advance of the cargo’s arrival) in order to determine admissibility and mitigate risks.

 

FPOA examinations. CBSA plans to conduct health, safety and security examinations at the first port of arrival (FPOA) simultaneously with other agency examinations, with alternative procedures for low risk items. This could lead to the removal of in-bond movements and inland sufferance warehouse programs.

 

eCommerce program. The creation of an eCommerce program will handle the spike in trade volume and complexity.

 

Customs declarations. There is a plan to capture different versions of customs declarations starting with the first declaration through accounting. Analytics will play a big role in identifying discrepancies and improving targeting.

 

SME Portal. To further support small to medium enterprises (SME), CBSA is considering the development of a government portal for customs declarations, release, and management. The ACI eManifest Portal for highway carriers and freight forwarders is a forerunner of what’s to come.

 

Unified Business Numbers. CBSA is working with local and national partners to find out whether it is feasible to implement a single Business Number for all participants in a supply chain in order to address identification issues.

 

Pushing out the border. The CBSA has committed to “pushing the border out” back in 2001’s Smart Border Declaration and the Beyond the Border Action Plan (BTB), which aims to extends the agency’s focus beyond North America.

 

CBSA Commercial Transportation Agenda 2020: Current Programs

The Commercial Transportation Agenda 2020 is a massive task. Success is contingent on the cooperation of multiple agencies, trade participants and third party service providers. The trade community should continue to expect changes, big and small, and new rules within the next few years. The CBSA has already rolled out multiple programs under the BTB plan, including the following:

 

eManifest

 

The eManifest requirement for freight forwarders became mandatory in 2017. Forwarders who fail to transmit advance house bill data on consolidated freight may receive monetary penalties under the CBSA’s Administrative Monetary Penalty System (AMPS). The majority of eManifest filers transmit information via the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), a system-to-system connection.

 

Single Window

 

The Single Window Initiative is a simplified method of sharing electronic import data between the Canadian government and trade participants. The Single Window currently features 1) Integrated Import Declaration (IID – SO911) and 2) License, Permit, Certificate and Other Documentation (LPCO Image – SO 927). These two services greatly simplify the import process, reduce paper processing and lower the cost of doing business.

 

CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management (CARM)

The CARM project aims to transform the collection of tax and duty for imported goods by modernizing and streamlining the commercial import process. When fully implemented, CARM will provide a modern interface for import processing. It will reduce import costs, give importers self-service access to their data, strengthen compliance verification and fraud detection, and improve the consistency of trade rules and decisions.

 

The first phase of the CARM project is the Accounts Receivable Ledger (ARL). This year, CBSA targets to complete the movement of the existing ARL system from the old data center to the cloud, with no changes in functionality. The first release of the new functionality under CARM is expected in the fall of 2020, which will provide trade chain partners with new tools for managing their CBSA accounts. In 2021, the second release will add functionality like registration, enrolment and electronic declarations.

 

To learn more, visit our CBSA eManifest page or contact us today!

 

 

 

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