CBSA will increase administrative monetary penalties

The Auditor General of Canada found the penalties were too low to improve compliance with trade programs.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) announced that it will proceed to increase Administrative Monetary Penalties (AMPs) for trade compliance in the spring of 2019. The changes will be effective April 1st.

The Agency says its action follows criticism from the Auditor General of Canada in his 2017 Audit of Customs Duties that the CBSA’s Administrative Monetary Penalties (AMPs) were too low to improve compliance with trade programs.

The CBSA says it will not be increasing system generated penalties related to the timing for accounting for imported goods. This is because industry stakeholders identified these AMPs as having potentially disproportionate, unintended impacts on small and medium-sized businesses.

Also, to ease the transition to the new penalty structure, the CBSA will reset the penalty level to the first level for all existing contraventions importers may have. This is to avoid unanticipated impacts on industry that could occur by issuing second and third level penalties at higher levels than previously indicated.

The maximum Administrative Monetary Penalty of $25,000 remains unchanged.

Link: Customs Notice 19-05 Changes to Administrative Monetary Penalties Contraventions

Link: Administrative Monetary Penalty System – Master Penalty Document