CBSA’s Advanced Commercial Information (ACI) will require mandatory compliance with electronic manifest from highway carriers sometime in 2014. Six months after the mandatory eManifest date, CBSA will begin to issue zero-rated AMPS penalties to highway carriers, and six months after that, full penalty amounts will be issued. The period of zero rated AMPS is to give industry an opportunity to make the necessary corrections to procedures and preventative mechanisms to ensure reduced risk of exposure to AMPS penalties.
With the advent of these new ACI penalties, CTA called on CBSA to apply a common sense approach consistent with the intent for AMPS to be corrective and not punitive in nature. CBSA has responded with what appears to be a reasonable approach to the introduction of these new penalties. The responsibility for the issuance of AMPS will be limited to one core group within CBSA, thus increasing the opportunity to work with CBSA. CTA is pleased that the centralization of the issuance of AMPS will facilitate dialogue around what constitutes a fair and corrective approach to the penalties and their structure.
(A power point presentation outlining the new ACI AMPS, rationale and amounts is available by contacting CTA).
CBSA has further indicated a willingness to assist carriers in reaching out to their customers to understand the information requirements. Often carriers rely on their customers to provide shipment information and incorrect or incomplete information can leave carriers vulnerable to AMPS penalties. Common issues already being seen by CBSA include:
• Accurate address information such as Street, Drive, Boulevard, Avenue
• Directional information for street address (ie. North, South, East, West)
• Clear commodity description
CTA has hosted several webinars to help educate the highway carrier community on the application, description and penalty amounts. However carriers wishing to engage CBSA in an outreach webinar or conference call for their customers are encouraged to contact Helene Porter of CBSA at Helene.Porter@cbsa-asfc.gc.ca
