Air import shipments arriving in Canada  

The Canadian Border Service Agency (CBSA) will be implementing Phase II of the Advance Commercial Information (ACI) program as of December 5th, 2005 requiring electronically transmission of shipment particulars for shipments arriving in Canada by air. Phase I was applicable for the ocean transportation mode and Phase II for airfreight cargo will be effective on December 5, 2005.  

This program is divided in two parts:

• Primary declaration ( information supplied by the airlines)
• Supplementary cargo report declaration ( information supplied by freight forwarders or airlines)

Primary declaration

All airlines and courier companies must transmit true, complete and accurate air cargo and conveyance reports at least 4 hours prior to arrival of the aircraft at the first airport in Canada or at wheels-up if the flight is less than 4 hours.
 
All foreign and Canadian movements of the cargo must be included on the Air Cargo Report. The following information is mandatory

ACI - AIR CONVEYANCE REPORT

• Conveyance reference number (CRN)
• Flight Number
• Aircraft type and registration number
• Airport of departure
• Flight routing
• First port of arrival in Canada
• Date and time of departure (Eastern standard time = GMT + 5))
• Estimated date and time of arrival (Eastern standard time = GMT + 5)
     

ACI- AIR CARGO REPORT

• Place of loading
• Port of report
• Routing and destination
• Airway bill number
• Conveyance report number (CRN)
• Flight number
• Part shipment arrival reference number
• Split shipment indicator

Supplementary cargo report declaration

The freight forwarder or airline must transmit the mandatory supplementary data  i.e. name of shipper, name of consignee and description of the goods. The supplementary data must be transmitted 4 hours before the arrival at the first port of entry in Canada 

ACI - SUPPLEMENTARY DATA

• Air waybill number
• Supplementary cargo report number
• HAWB
• Consignee & address
• Delivery address
• Consignor & address
• Notify party ( if any)
• Place of receipt
• Place of delivery
• Quantity
• Weight
• DGR Code & quantity
  

All changes to the declarations will have to be made in the prescribed time frame.
Important to note that contrary to the American AMS program the data transmission to the Canadian customs must be on UN/Edifact format only.  Also, if we choose to use airlines for transmission of the supplementary cargo declaration, we are giving them all commercial information on our business including the names of our customers.

For shipments not complying with these regulations a penalty system will be applied by the Canadian Government and the fine will be from $1,000.00 to $ 3,000.00 per non-compliance.

IMPORTANT to contact all different airlines and verify if they have in place the necessary tools to meet the requirements of the new regulations. In the mean time, different companies such as Traxon are looking the possibility of electronic transmission for the supplementary cargo declaration to the Canadian customs directly from information transmitted by the freight forwarders.  We recommend that you approach Traxon in order to evaluate the option that they can offer you.

CBSA site: www.cbsa.gc.ca/F/pub/cm/cn605/cn605-f.pdf