More than 227,000 importers deal with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) annually. Most rely on the services of a licensed customs broker to get their shipments cleared at the border. For each of these transactions, reams of critical business data must be generated, about everything from country of origin and destinations, to suppliers, tariff classifications, routings, and intended use. Traditionally, importers rely on customs brokers to pull that information together and clear the goods through customs. But many importers are learning that it is only part of the story. Customs brokers are now helping importers leverage that information, transforming data into critical business intelligence. Customs brokers are offering a growing range of specialized services to help importers develop new product lines, explore new markets, evaluate the impact of global change, and cut costs.

The Canada Border Services Agency ( CBSA) facilitates the flow of legitimate travellers and trade. The agency also enforces more than 90 acts and regulations that keep our country and Canadians safe.

The CBSA provides help to Canadian producers who face unfair foreign competition in the Canadian marketplace. The CBSA is responsible for the administration of the Special Import Measures Act (SIMA), which helps to protect Canadian industry from injury caused by the dumping and subsidizing of imported goods.

The CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management (CARM) project is a multi-year initiative that will transfomr the collection of tax and duty for goods imported into Canada. Through CARM, the CBSA will modernize and streamline the process of importing commercial goods into Canada.

Expert and accurate reporting will save you costs in the long run and allow you to cost more efficiently.

The time needed by you or your employee is the time needed to give us access to your import records.

There are several ways and all starts with the first step of obtaining a FIRM report from the CBSA. With the FIRM report, we can identify the potential issue that can generate refunds/credits. Once the transactions are identified, we can go on site to scan the import transactions. However, as most importers are now going the ”paperless” route, the electronic files can be transfered to us via Google Drive, Dropbox, Teams, or any other platforms. Files can also they could be copied on a USB stick/key and send to us. Alternatively a file drop link can also be provided on request.

Once we have finalized the review, a complete detailed report which will allow you to take advantage of the new/correct classification of the reviewed files. At this point your current customs broker should be advised of the changes to avoid continual errors. Altenatively your company can choose to begin using ALB’s  customs brokerage services thus  avoiding the need for future reviews.

Yes, we offer classification opinion for a minimal fee.