18 September 2002

AMPS IS ALMOST HERE: AN UPDATE FOR CSCB MEMBERS

The CSCB’s collaboration with the Canadian Association of Importers and Exporters on its AMPS seminars across Canada is proving to be very successful. At every stop, about half the attendees are customs brokers, and the vast majority of importers in the room use the services of customs brokers. What a perfect forum to provide information and listen to concerns, as CSCB President Carol West and AMPS Working Group members Bob Beausoleil of Russell A. Farrow Ltd. and Michelle Criger, of the CSCB national office, have been doing.

The CSCB is preparing an AMPS information package which will be distributed very shortly to all members. This package will include a number of Customs Outlooks on issues of interest and concern (such as reason to believe), and members can use this information to tailor briefings for clients. In addition, the CSCB presentation used in the AMPS seminars will be made available to all members for use in their own firms, and with clients, prior to the implementation of AMPS on October 7th. Finally, one of the highlights of the CSCB annual conference in November is an AMPS panel, which will include Ken McCarthy, the CCRA Director responsible for AMPS, as well as other distinguished government and business speakers.

What else is the CSCB doing as AMPS is quickly approaching? Let’s recap some of the major “wins” we can claim, so far:

1. copies of importers’ Notices of Penalty Assessments will be issued to customs brokers, as a result of our representations.
2. softwood lumber export permits will be exempted from the requirement to have a permit before the export of goods.
3. email notification from a client that a Certificate of Origin is in his possession will be sufficient, rather than the broker having to keep copies of COO’s.
4. penalties under C003 will not be implemented until a comprehensive review is done of trade data requirements (target date for implementation, October, 2003).
5. CCRA review committees will be established in each region.
6. infractions for broker record keeping will be assessed “per audit” rather than “per instance”.

What are we continuing to work diligently on? These are three priorities:

1. We are seeking greater transparency about CCRA’s decision to implement AMPS on October 7th. Of special concern to us are some regional inconsistencies in the statistics we have seen about NPA’s issued to date, and a better understanding of penalties and projections of penalties issued as a result of compliance audits.
2. We had asked for a collaborative government-business mechanism to monitor and evaluate AMPS after implementation. We have been assured by Assistant Commissioner Denis Lefebvre that monitoring AMPS will be a top priority for him and his staff, but there has been no agreement to include business in that monitoring process. We have asked the CAIE to work with us to develop a monitoring and evaluation process for our two key associations, which will meet as often as needed with CCRA senior management. We will be developing a web-based process to facilitate feedback from our members on NPA’s issued after October 7th.
3. We are looking for a commitment from CCRA to work with us to identify and resolve policies which do not reflect today’s business realities and which cannot be met without delaying the movement of goods across our border. One of the positive things which has resulted from all the discussion around AMPS has been a focus on policy requirements which do not reflect business reality. A perfect example of this is C003. We are also concerned with C274 and its ETA requirements, as well as with requirements under the regulations relating to export.

As always, we welcome comments or questions from members on AMPS.