Major Canadian Initiatives Expected to Streamline Duty Payment, Border Crossing Procedures
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- Upcoming changes to Canadian border processes will be a “game changer” for the clearance process, Kim Campbell of Mkmarin Trade Services said on Oct. 20. The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) Assessment and Revenue Management (CARM) is set to be implemented by the end of 2020, allowing e-commerce customers to fill out their own customs declarations and eliminating the entry process for commercial importers, she said, speaking at the Western Cargo Conference. Other initiatives will allow truck cargo to cross the border without stopping, through the use of radio frequency ID tags and facial recognition software, she said.
“Amazing things” have been happening in Canada over the last year or so, Campbell said, with an aggressive rewriting of border processes over the past few months. While the U.S. trade community has been fixated on the promise of blockchain technology, Canada has been working to use cloud and machine learning technologies to simplify border processes, she said.
Under current plans for CARM, consumers placing e-commerce orders, such as on Amazon, will be able to push a button after payment that will push them to a screen to fill out a Single Import Declaration (SID), Campbell said. A cloud portal established by the Canadian government will guide users to select the correct tariff number and duty rate. The purchaser will then hit a button to send the declaration to the CBSA. Once the cargo arrives it is released, and the purchaser will have 10 days to make any changes, at the end of which CBSA will send them a bill for duties, taxes and fees owed and the purchaser can go to the bank to pay it.
On the commercial side, brokers and importers may not go through a portal to file entries, but could instead send a single window declaration application program interface (API) dataset to obtain release. At that point, CBSA would calculate from the dataset the duties and taxes owed. The broker or importer will have 10 days to make any changes, such as applying a free trade agreement. Once those 10 days are up, CBSA will send a monthly amount owed and the payment can be made from a bank.
As planned, the system would be unique in terms of what has been done by customs administrations globally. Part of the impetus behind the initiative has been a drop in Canada’s “ease of doing business” rankings. “This is our attempt to move back up into the top three” in the ease of doing business category for cross-border transactions, said Campbell, who previously headed the Canadian Society of Customs Brokers.
Meanwhile, a pilot is currently ongoing for members of Canada’s Customs Self-Assessment CBSA trusted trader program to test the use of unmanned border crossings on the Canada-U.S. border, Campbell said. On the Gordie Howe Bridge, which crosses the border at Detroit, some trucks are being fitted with RFID tags that are programmed with the basic core data elements required by CBSA, including the business numbers of the forwarder and importer. An officer is not present. Instead, off-site, a CBSA officer is able to see a camera and take pictures of the vehicle, the license plate, and the driver for facial recognition purposes. Any questions the officer has can be asked via an internet-based phone call, after which the officer makes a “go or no-go” decision. The end goal is to have trucks cross the border without their wheels stopping, she said.