Due to the extended systems outage, the CBSA has implemented a grace period in relation to electronic transmission of commercial data between September 27 and October 14, 2025, and will not be issuing Administrative Monetary Penalties for contraventions associated with the electronic transmission of data using the affected systems during this period.
The CBSA has provided the following accompanying message:
As you are aware, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) experienced a significant outage of several systems following on update on September 27, 2025. This outage affected several systems required to report Advance Commercial Information, Arrival Certification Messages, and other mandatory commercial information. As a result, many carriers, freight forwarders, warehouse operators, brokers and importers have experienced challenges in meeting their regulatory requirements to report to the CBSA.
This extended outage has been corrected as of October 5, 2025 and systems are once again active and able to receive transmissions from stakeholders. The CBSA recognizes that although the system is active, there continues to be a backlog of transmissions.
Accordingly, the CBSA has implemented a grace period in relation to electronic transmission of commercial data between September 27 and October 14, 2025, and will not be issuing Administrative Monetary Penalties for contraventions associated with the electronic transmission of data using the affected systems during this period.
Clients are still required to report to the CBSA, and are encouraged to submit their electronic reports as soon as possible to enable the release of goods.
Please note that at no time did this outage extend to CARM, and penalties associated with non-compliance for trade data requirements using the CARM portal will continue to apply.
If you believe you have received a penalty in error during this period, please contact the issuing office indicated on the Notice of Penalty Assessment within 30 days. If more than 30 days have passed, you may still submit an appeal through Recourse. Information on accessing Recourse review is available on the CBSA website: https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/recourse-recours/howto-commentfaire-eng.html.
We appreciate your understanding as we address this unplanned outage.