Customs Notice 24-17: CARM: Launch to External Clients Rescheduled to October 2024

On April 19, 2024, the CBSA issued a news release to provide an update on its plans for the launch of the CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management (CARM) system.

The CBSA communicated that CARM will launch Release 2 internally at the CBSA on May 13, as planned, to advance the Agency’s compliance and enforcement efforts.

Responding to uncertainty in the labour environment, the CBSA also indicated that it is preserving the status quo for industry when they account for duties and taxes. It is therefore the intention of the CBSA to reschedule the launch to Trade Chain Partners (TCPs) to October 2024.

The previously announced CARM Release 2 cutover period, previously scheduled for April 26 to May 13, will not occur as planned. The CBSA is maintaining the legacy environment for accounting and payment, and current state processes will remain in effect.

Cutover activities to support the internal launch of CARM Release 2 will not impact CBSA external operations, or TCPs directly. A previously planned outage of the ACROSS system on April 27 and April 28 will not occur. Any future planned ACROSS maintenance outages will be communicated through the CBSA regular planned outage bulletin.

Until implementation of CARM in October 2024, CCS will continue to be the system of record for TCPs to account for imported goods and pay for duties and taxes. CADEX will continue to be available to TCPs to submit of electronic accounting documents (B3s).

The April Statement of Account (SOA) will be available on April 25, as per current process. There will be no interruption to the issuance of Daily Notices (DN) to TCPs .

For the April SOA, payments must be made by April 30. Payments by Pre-Authorized Debits (PAD) will be withdrawn on April 30, as per current process.

Existing Release Prior to Payment (RPP) program requirements remain in place until the October 2024 implementation of the CARM.  Importers will continue to be able to use a broker’s RPP financial security to obtain the release of imported goods prior to accounting and payment of duties and taxes.

The ability for a TCP to post their financial security through the CARM Client Portal (CCP) will only be made available following implementation of CARM in October 2024.

The CBSA will be communicating information on detailed activities leading up to the implementation of CARM in the coming months.

Questions or concerns about the rescheduled launch of CARM to TCPs, can be directed to cbsa.carm_engagement-engagement_de_la_gcra.asfc@cbsa-asfc.gc.ca.

This notice is available in its entirety on the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) website.