Canadian Export Reporting System Portal
Get started with electronic export declarations

Overview: Canadian Export Reporting System

The Canadian Export Reporting System (CERS) is a free, web-based, self-service portal that allows the exporting community to electronically submit export declarations, bulk data uploads and Summary Reporting Program monthly reports to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

Main features of the CERS portal

Some highlights:

CERS registration process

To register and access the CERS portal, you must complete the following steps:

  1. Step 1: Confirm that your business number is designated “export” or “both import and export” by contacting the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) at  1-800-959-8886
  2. Step 2: Apply to become a portal client by: completing form BSF831
  3. Step 3: Submit the completed BSF831 form by email to:  cbsa.export_program-programme_exportation.asfc@cbsa-asfc.gc.ca for approval

The approval process generally takes up to 5 business days, but may be longer if there is any missing or incomplete data. Once approved, the CBSA will send a shared secret to the email address indicated on the application form.

Shared secret

A shared secret is a temporary access code. The CBSA will provide you with a shared secret once your application to become a CERS portal client has been approved. You must use this code to create a portal business account within 90 days of the issue date of the shared secret.

Only the CBSA and the authorized representative of the company have access to this information. If necessary, a replacement shared secret can be issued by contacting the Commercial Registration Unit by email at: cbsa.export_program-programme_exportation.asfc@cbsa-asfc.gc.ca.

Business designations

The business designations reflected in your CERS business account should match either:

If your business was using multiple business accounts to report goods using CAED, you may be incorrectly designated as a customs service provider in the CERS portal.

If you disagree with the business designation assigned to your business in CERS, you must contact the CBSA Technical Commercial Client Unit at: tccu-ustcc@cbsa-asfc.gc.ca. We are working on providing users with the ability in the future to change their own designation.

Associated business accounts

For customs service providers looking to associate new clients to their business account in CERS, complete form BSF831 and submit it by email to: cbsa.export_program-programme_exportation.asfc@cbsa-asfc.gc.ca. Once we have processed your completed form, we will add the new client to your CERS business account.

Previous CAED clients: If you notice a client that was previously associated to your CAED account is not appearing in CERS, it could be because:

Portal account options and guidance

Once you have a shared secret or authorization ID, an authorized representative of the business, called an account owner, sets up the portal business account using their GCKey or a sign-in-partner.

To sign in to the portal, employees will need their own GCKey or sign-in-partner. They may use an existing GCKey (created to access other government services such as eManifest) or create a new one. Each employee who will work in the portal must then set up a user account. GCKeys and user reference numbers are issued after initial log-in. They are unique to individual users and may not be shared between employees.

To set up a user account, the employee will need to provide basic identification including name, email address and telephone number.

There are 4 types of user accounts in the CERS portal:

To find out how an account owner and/or a proxy account owner can add a user account to their CERS portal business account, consult Adding a user to a CERS portal business account for more information.

Creating and managing export declarations and summary reports

For guidance on completing the various fields in an export declaration, consult the Electronic Commerce Client Requirements Document (ECCRD): Chapter 25—Canadian Export Reporting System (CERS) portal or the Quick reference guide to the Canadian Export Reporting System.

For guidance on the proper use of the summary report line template, consult the Electronic Commerce Client Requirements Document (ECCRD): Chapter 25—Canadian Export Reporting System (CERS) portal.

Proof of report numbers

CERS will not generate a proof of report number until after you submit the export declaration. We are aware that some exporting carriers have had challenges providing exporters with a unique carrier-assigned code without first obtaining the proof of report number.

For more information on how to comply, consult:

Historical export declarations

All export declarations submitted using CAED since , have been migrated to CERS. To access these documents, conduct a search on submitted export documents using the related proof of report number. You will not be able to access historical declarations submitted using CAED by using the submitted documents tab in the CERS portal.

Consult View submitted documents (CAED export declaration) in the quick reference guide for more information.

Templates and lists

The memorized lists (Exporter, Consignee, Service Provider, Certifier and Commodity sections) and templates in CAED were not migrated to CERS. These will need to be recreated in CERS using the lookup and template functionality. For further information on creating a lookup or template, please refer to the quick reference guide:

Technical requirements

Make sure that your computer:

For uninterrupted access to the CERS portal, the browser should:

 Important:

When you are finished using the CERS portal on a shared computer, you should log out by selecting the log out link and closing the browser before leaving the computer unattended. This will prevent unauthorized access to personal and/or commercial information by others.

For CERS data transmission requirements, please refer to the Electronic Commerce Client Requirements Document (ECCRD): Chapter 25—Canadian Export Reporting System (CERS) Portal.

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