22 May 2003

DFAIT Outage

The following message is from the Electronic Commerce Unit at the CCRA.

Please be advised that the connection between DFAIT and ACROSS, which processes new import permit requests will be closed at 20:00 (EST) Thursday May 29, 2003 and will be re-opened at 08:00 (EST) Tuesday June 03, 2003.

During the outage, Customs Inspectors will continue to have access to permits in ACROSS that were issued by DFAIT prior to 20:00 (EST) May 29, 2003.

Below are the procedures for steel shipments without permits during the outage:

· Importers/brokers are advised to submit a paper RMD release package;
· CCRA may allow the shipment to be released on the condition that the importer/broker applies for a permit as soon as possible

During the outage, CCRA will continue to release TRQ commodities for which the importer must submit permit information at the time of final accounting.

Shipments of clothing and textiles that require and do not have a permit will not be permitted entry during the outage. In these cases, importers and brokers should contact the DFAIT Help Desk at 877-808-8838 for assistance.

In recognition of losing two business days, DFAIT is offering extended hours for brokers. These hours are:

Friday May 23, 2003 08:00 - 22:00 EST
Saturday May 24 08:00 - 18:00
Sunday May 25 08:00 - 18:00
Monday May 26 06:00 - 22:00
Tuesday May 27 06:00 - 22:00
Wednesday May 28 06:00 - 22:00

Importers/brokers should be aware that permits can be issued up to thirty days in advance of importation.