CARM | PCB

How Will The CARM Client Portal Affect You?

Release 1 and Release 2 of the CARM Client Portal (CCP) will affect importers differently depending on the type of financial security they use. Listed in the chart below are the two most frequently used financial security options. To determine how CCP will affect your business, please refer to the financial security option your company currently uses.

How will the CARM Client Portal afffect you? Infographic

Print This Guide

CARM Preparedness Steps

Step 1: Establish financial security (Broker Backed Importers Only)

A requirement of Release 2 is for Importers to establish financial security with CBSA directly through a variety of means:

Apply for a D120 Import Bond (recommended): An import bond will provide Importers ultimate in cash-management and convenience. Alternatively, Importers choosing any of the following options must manage the financial security of each import/transaction ahead of arrival at the port.
Post a cash bond
Pay via credit card
Pre-authorized debit

Need to apply for an import bond?
Get your D120 Import Bond here

Step 2: Determine how your company will manage your CARM Client Portal (CCP)

This includes identifying your Business Account Manager(s) (BAM) who is the person to open your CCP. We recommend that you designate 2 people within your organization to be your BAMs:

A person responsible for your payments to CBSA
A person responsible for your customs processes

Additional questions to answer are:

Who in our company will be delegated the task of paying duties and taxes in the CCP or will we delegate this work to our Customs Broker(s)?
Which other staff should be given access to the CCP, and at what authority levels?

Looking for assistance managing your CARM Portal?
Ensure your financial obligations are met with CARM Management Services

Step 3: Setup your CARM Client Portal

Each user who requires access to the CCP will need to create their own user profile. Users create their profile using ONE of the three options below:

An existing GCKey that has been created for other Government of Canada portals
Create a new GCKey specifically for the CCP
Use the Sign-In Partner where users authenticate themselves using their own banking credentials

Step 4: Gather required information

The following information is required to set up a Business CCP:

Business Import Number (BN9) and RM Program Account Extension Number
Legal Entity name of the business, must be exact
Full legal physical or mailing address of the business, must be exact
Copy of most recent Statement of Account/Daily Notice details which can be requested from:

CBSA directly
Use the Sign-In PCB Customs Brokers can request your Statement Of Account from CBSA on your behalf by emailing carm@pcb.ca. Service fees will be applicable.

Step 5: Register the Business in the CCP

Using the information gathered, the BAM selected to open the account will log in to the CARM Client Portal and select: “Register my business”

Need help setting up your CARM Client Portal?
We can help you with that!

Step 6: Grant Employee(s) access and delegate authority

The secondary BAM and any other employee who requires access to the CCP must log in to their User Profiles and request access to the business CCP by selecting “Request access to my employer.” They will require the BN9 and provide a reason for the request.

The BAM who set up the business account will approve the access and delegation of authority by navigating to the “Manage pending employee requests” approve the request and setting the level of authority.

Want to better understand access and authority levels?
Read our post 3 Tips To Delegating Your Account Management

Step 7: Grant Custom Broker access and delegate of authority

Your customs broker will require access and delegation of authority in order to assist with portal management.

Grant Access
When your customs broker has submitted a request for access, you will need to confirm the request for access.

The BAM will log in to the CCP
Navigate to the “Manage pending third party requests”
Select the level of access

There are two levels of third party access, neither of which will share your companies sensitive information (bank account, user profiles, business relationships):

Business Management Relationship
‍Delegates access to all program accounts to the service provider including any programs added in the future.
*this option provides the optimal level of access for your customs broker to assist you in the CCP
Program Management Relationship
Delegates access to only selected program accounts to the service provider.

Once access is granted, the BAM will need to delegate the authority level.

Delegation of Authority (DOA)

Business Account Manager - Proxy (pBAM)
Selecting BAM for your third-party service provider will automatically default their access level to pBAM, also known as a Proxy Business Administrator. A pBAM can perform operational activities such as requesting rulings, making payments, view Statements Of Accounts (SOA’s), and past invoices and payments. A pBAM access level is required by a Customs Broker who will be applying for your binding rulings, making your payments of duties and tax and other aspects of managing your financial obligations with Customs. A pBAM does NOT have access to the client’s sensitive information such as bank account information. A pBAM CANNOT see or manage the employees or business relationships of the client.
Program Account Manager - Proxy (pPAM)
This user role is for the third party program account manager. The purpose of this role is for the third party to assume the management of a specific import account (BN9) without access to the client's sensitive information and access of the client’s employees or business relationships. The pPAM has the same restrictions as the pBAM and can perform the same operational activities. The pPAM is limited only to access a specific program account.

It is recommended that Business Management Relationship access be granted to PCB with pBAM authority levels in order to continue to provide services as necessary. Please also ensure that you enter an expiry date. We are unable to access accounts that have left the expiry date field blank.

Print This Checklist

Blogs | Courses | Videos

An Editor's Note: with Release 2 now having no set date, kindly bare this in mind while reading. At PCB we do our due diligence to write on the most relevant topics every week and naturally content may become dated as developments in a certain program/topic occur. For this reason, we greatly appreciate your readership and hope you continue reading with the posting dates and disclaimers such as this in mind. For the latest information on this topic please bookmark this page, use our website's search function, or better yet, subscribe to our "Trading Post" newsletter to receive these updates directly to your inbox.