AMPS are intended to deter non-compliance and have been issued by CBSA for the last 20 years. When a CBSA officer finds that a client has not complied with their obligations under the Customs Act, an AMPS penalty will be applied.

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Your Broker Knows Blog

AMPS Under The Microscope: The Continual Evolution

The Administrative Monetary Penalty System (AMPS) is a Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) sanctions regime that authorizes the CBSA to issue civil monetary penalties for the violation of CBSA’s trade and border legislation in the commercial stream. AMPS are intended to deter non-compliance and have been issued by CBSA for the last 20 years. Penalties are issued for non-compliance found either at the border at the time of importation or through post-release verification of company records. When a CBSA officer finds that a client has not complied with their obligations under the Customs Act, an AMPS penalty will be applied. The CBSA officer identifies the infraction and selects the appropriate contravention from the AMPS Master Penalty Document.

The Drayage Directory

Have you ever heard of the term drayage and wondered what it meant? Professionals in the industry refer to drayage as delivery or ground shipping services which some can misconstrue. To narrow it down, Drayage is the crucial link in the last leg of transporting goods domestically.

Global Shipping Crisis And The Role Customs Brokers Play

The global shipping crisis has become everyone's problem as a direct result of international issues, including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, war, more restricted policies, and unstable market demand.

Canada’s Trade Incentive Programs

Canada has a number of Trade Incentive Programs to allow Canadian companies to remain competitive in the ever increasing global competitive market and to entice foreign investors to invest in Canada. Trade incentives permit companies to waive, postpone or refund some or all of the duties and taxes that would otherwise be payable. Before reviewing the many programs, let's take a look at Canada’s Foreign Trade Zone Program.

Canada’s Duty Drawback Program

Canada’s Duty Drawback program is administered by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and is one of their Trade Incentive Programs which we explained in a previous blog post Canada’s Trade Incentive Program.

The CBSA Voluntary Disclosure Program

CBSA has a program whereby commercial clients can correct inaccurate or incomplete information or disclose previously unreported information. When this is done voluntarily CBSA may grant monetary relief to the client. This program is known as the Voluntary Disclosure Program.

Have You Left Your CARM Account Dormant?

The delay of the Canada Border Services Agency Assessment and Revenue Management (CARM) Release 2 came with a sigh of relief from many Canadian importers that had not yet gone through the process of setting up a CARM Client Portal. However, for those proactive users who did, this delay presented an annoying challenge of having their GC Key deactivated for lack of use. In this blog we will explore why this is happening and how to avoid it whilst still being prepared for CARM in 2023.

CBSA Valuation

Importers must provide to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) a “value for duty” for all goods imported into Canada. Value for duty must be determined in accordance with the Canada Customs Act regardless of the circumstances of the importation. CBSA will assess the duty and taxes payable on the value for duty of the importation. Importers must use one of the six methods identified in sections 48 - 53 of the Customs Act. You must use the methods in sequence as listed i.e if you can not use the transaction value as per Section 48 then you proceed to section 49 and on and on until you identify the appropriate method. Before we begin to review the methods of valuation we need to understand a few terms.