OTTAWA, Ont. — Transborder carriers won’t have to pay non-compliance fees for U.S. Trade Act violations if they can prove they have successfully submitted the required shipment information to their U.S. Customs brokers, CTA learned today.

The Canadian Trucking Alliance today received confirmation that U.S. Customs and Border Protection has altered its policies for issuing monetary penalties for failure to submit electronic cargo information prior to arrival.

The introduction of the Trade Act brought forward modified monetary penalties for carriers failing to submit appropriate cargo information prior to arrival. The fines ranged from $US5,000 to $US10,000 for repeat offenders.
Carriers to date have been obliged to pay the fines up front and then contest them after the fact if they were not at fault, a flaw in enforcement which CTA was quick to point out to U.S. Customs officials.

“It was unfair of CBP to issue fines exclusively to carriers for failure to meet Trade Act requirements when carriers were submitting cargo information well in advance to their U.S. brokers — carriers cannot control the information processes of customhouse brokers and today’s announcement by CBP recognizes this lack of control,” said David Bradley, CEO of CTA. “With this announcement, carriers who can now prove to CBP that they have successfully submitted the required shipment information to their U.S. Customhouse brokers will not be issued penalties for non-compliance,” added Bradley.

To understand where problems were occurring, the Canadian Trucking Alliance conducted a national survey of its membership. Survey results showed that there was confusion regarding a number of the Trade Act requirements from all three sectors of the supply chain. In a number of cases carriers were not fully compliant and have now started an internal educational phase to resolve areas where non-compliance exists. However, the survey also showed a number of instances where fines had been issued to the carrier, when based on information provided to CTA, fault was clearly elsewhere in the supply chain. CTA, along with the American Trucking Association, had been advocating to CBP that fines should not be issued to carriers that can prove they have complied with the law — CTA members will now have the opportunity to benefit from this fairer approach to fine issuances.

“CTA was pleased that CBP officials listened to CTA recommendations and revised their policies accordingly,” added Bradley.

The new policies are as follows:

In-Bond: All Groups

For any truck arriving with in-bond shipments (QP/WP and CAFES) that have not been transmitted electronically to CBP, the following guidelines have been implemented:

A penalty under 19 USC 1436 will be issued to the driver (in care of the carrier) who fails to provide CBP with electronic cargo information prior to arrival and do not have a QP barcode (or in-bond number).

For carriers that can provide proof that the information was timely provided to the ABI filer prior to arrival, an information letter will be issued to the ABI filer and carrier. No penalty will be issued to the carrier. A penalty under 19 USC 1436 will be assessed to the driver (in care of the carrier) who does not have a valid CAFES barcode that transmits the required electronic cargo information.

PAPS: All Groups

For any truck arriving with a PAPS entry that was not electronically received by CBP, the following guidelines will be implemented:

A penalty under 19 USC 1436 will be issued to the driver (in care of the carrier) who fails to provide CBP with electronic cargo information prior to arrival and do not have a PAPS barcode (or entry number).

For carriers that can provide proof that the information was timely provided to the ABI filer prior to arrival, an information letter will be issued to the ABI filer and carrier. No penalty will be issued to the carrier.

For details visit this link.