CTA Achieves Truck Turnaround Plan as Alternative to Major ACI AMPs Penalties

The Canadian Trucking Alliance was informed by CBSA that in recognition of the recurrent delays and system outages members have experienced over the last several weeks, the agency will be allowing trucks to turn around when arriving without ACI.  This will alleviate the issuance of major ACI related penalties.

Applicable only to the highway mode, the policy will be effective nationally as of Monday, May 29, 2017. It will run as a 90-day evaluation period to help improve compliance levels.

In recent months, CTA has been working with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to resolve the growing problem of Administrative Monetary Penalties (AMPS) for non-compliance with ACI reporting requirements.

CTA proposed several solutions that would help carriers avoid major monetary penalties, including giving drivers the option to return their truck to the U.S. for certain violations, such as failure to submit ACI data.

During the 90-day evaluation period, CBSA will monitor whether ACI compliance rates improve or regress. CBSA staff and CTA will hold periodic discussions on compliance trends during this period.

“We appreciate CBSA working with our sector on this matter. However, CTA wants to emphasize to the industry this isn’t a free pass for carriers,” says CTA president Stephen Laskowski. “If compliance rates start going backwards, CBSA could eliminate the evaluation period and consider other compliance measures.”

“Carriers will need to remain diligent to ensure drivers, dispatch and operations are all on the same page with ACI compliance protocols,” added Laskowski.

CBSA will also be monitoring the frequency of truck turnarounds to the U.S. It will be contacting companies with repeated compliance issues to propose additional training, educational outreach and other assistance to improve ACI compliance.

Although carriers will receive immediate relief from large monetary penalties, a long-term solution needs to be put in place to ensure fairness in the AMP system, says Laskowski. He says a mitigation system for members of Trusted Trader programs based on volumetrics – where carriers’ exposure rate to ACI is weighted by the volume of freight transported across the border annually – should be a part of CBSA’s strategy to reform AMPS.