Customs Self Assessment Program
Evaluation Study

Notes

1. The only exception is automotive parts arriving from Mexico. [Return to text]
2. Statistics Canada, CANSIM, Table 228-0003. Similar data could not be obtained to determine what proportion of goods imported from the U.S. are subject to OGD regulations. [Return to text]
3. This excludes empty trucks. [Return to text]
4. Part I of the risk-assessment process involves a review of a company’s corporate history, compliance records and history of enforcement actions against it using information extracted from systems such as the Integrated Customs Enforcement System. Two importers and one carrier were denied approval due to a negative recommendation from the risk unit. [Return to text]
5. The only exception is automotive parts arriving from Mexico. [Return to text]
6. FAST is a joint Canada–U.S. commercial program and in order to qualify, an importer or carrier company must be a member of the CSA and the Partners in Protection (PIP) programs. PIP is designed to enlist the cooperation of private industry to enhance border security, combat organized crime and terrorism, increase awareness of customs compliance issues and help detect and prevent contraband smuggling (www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/security-securite/pip-pep/menu-eng.html). [Return to text]
7. There is no mandatory requirement for a shipment identifier; however, it is an available option that carriers may choose to use if it supports their business model. [Return to text]
8. The mandate of this Committee is to promote mutually beneficial collaboration between the CBSA and the Canadian commercial trade community on border matters to the benefit of Canada, the Canadian economy and Canada’s trade sector (www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/agency-agence/consult/bccc-ccacf/2005-10-06-e.html). [Return to text]
9. The carrier compliance team uses a set of scoring criteria to determine how often a company will be monitored, which will be every one, two, three or five years, depending on how the company scores. [Return to text]
10. The importer compliance team has a budget of $1.01 million for a total of 19 compliance managers and $164,000 for operations and maintenance (O&M). [Return to text]
11. The carrier compliance team has a budget of $1.7 million for 28 FTEs (including 23 compliance managers) and $200,000 for O&M. [Return to text]
12. Benchmarks are not established for Part II approval mainly because the time it takes is largely dependant on the client. Part II requires the company to document the business processes and audit trails that will support CSA program requirements. [Return to text]
13. Only the importer team provided a benchmark for risk assessments. That benchmark was used for both teams. [Return to text]
14. Only the carrier team provided a benchmark for Part III. That benchmark was used for both teams. Part III involves companies signing a client undertaking (summary of obligations), which outlines program specific requirements. [Return to text]
15. The difference between the number of applicants and actual CSA membership relates to (i) companies withdrawing from the application process due to the required investment of time and money; (ii) companies not going through all the processing phases; or (iii) companies readying their internal business processes before proceeding to the next stage of the application process. [Return to text]
16. Statistics Canada, Cansim. [Return to text]
17. For CSA-approved importers, this total includes all of their imports, including both CSA and non-CSA shipments. [Return to text]
18. Six out of the first ten importers on that list are CSA-approved companies while 14 are in the top 50. [Return to text]
19. This estimate is based on the approximate proportion of imports via land POEs. The proportion of these companies’ releases between 2002 and 2006 entering Canada by land was calculated and multiplied by the total value of imports to estimate the proportion of imports that may be suitable for the CSA program. Importers cannot use the CSA clearance option for offshore goods (goods not coming from the U.S.). By selecting land POE releases, imports of offshore goods arriving via marine and air modes are excluded, although the figure may include imports of offshore goods that first arrived in the U.S. and then were transported by land mode to Canada as there is no way to differentiate them. [Return to text]
20. These costs may also be related to improvements of their business systems for reasons beyond the requirements of the CSA program. [Return to text]
21. Companies can voluntarily disclose compliance issues to the CBSA rather than risk being in contravention of acts or regulations. Companies that voluntarily disclose compliance issues may not be subject to penalties. [Return to text]
22. The higher number of infractions in 2003 and 2004 reflect compliance verification stint results. [Return to text]
23. There are a series of AMPS penalties that are specifically for contraventions of CSA policy and legislation. [Return to text]
24. For importers, warnings for late accounting (C244) are recorded automatically in the system. At the end of the calendar year, the CSA team performs a compliance review for late accounting that generates the C246. If the threshold for late accounting transactions is exceeded, then a C246 penalty is assessed for each transaction above the threshold. [Return to text]
25. One objective of the CSA program is to streamline the border clearance process and reduce the burden of having to prepare paperwork for each separate shipment that may be contained in one truck. As long as all of the goods in a truck are CSA-approved and are being imported by a CSA-approved importer, then regardless of the number of shipments, it is counted as one release. [Return to text]
26. Because a CSA release could represent more than one shipment, these figures represent a minimum proportion. If CSA releases were represented in shipments, it is likely that the proportion of CSA releases to all releases would be higher. [Return to text]
27. There were three scenarios: using the largest increase in CSA clients’ VFD, which took place in 2005–2006 (high); using the average increase of the last three years (2004–2006) (medium); and using the increase of VFD from 2003 to 2005 (low). [Return to text]
28. These figures were calculated using the prime corporate rate for a month (0.37%), multiplied by the $875 million in duty paid since 2002, and divided by the number of years (five) that the CSA program has existed (2002 to 2006). [Return to text]
29. This carrier indicated that every shipment that crosses the border under the CSA program saves the driver close to two hours. It was estimated that the company transports an average of 155 CSA shipments each month, for a monthly savings of approximately 310 hours. Given that the trucks are charged out at $120 per hour, this represents a monthly savings of over $37,000. [Return to text]
30. CBSA, Departmental Performance Report, 2005–2006. [Return to text]
31. Canada Customs and Revenue Agency. Investing in the Future: The Customs Action Plan, 2000–2004. [Return to text]
32. Statistics Canada, CANSIM, Table 228-003. [Return to text]
33. Construction is currently underway for a dedicated FAST lane at the Pacific Highway border crossing. [Return to text]
34. www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/agency-agence/reports-rapports/ae-ve/2005/cap-int-eval-eng.html. [Return to text]
35. Statistics Canada, CANSIM, Table 228-0003. [Return to text]
36. This excludes empty trucks. [Return to text]