Canada: New documentation process for imports

Effective January 4, 2021 Sealand will no longer be submitting CBSA interim accepted “Supplemental House Bill” data.

In accordance with Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) e-Manifest rule trade notice, we would like to inform you of the details related to the Canada house bill submission. The result of CBSA changes will require Canada Forwarders to file house bills & Sealand will no longer be submitting CBSA “Supplemental House Bill” data for Canada import shipments.

For intransit cargo going to the US over a Canadian port or for cargo remaining onboard a vessel transiting a Canadian port, Sealand will continue to file CBSA accepted supplemental data.

The effective date for these new regulations is from January 4th 2021.

Any HBL shipping instruction received after January 4th 2021 will be rejected by Sealand & will no longer be submitting any HBL data to CBSA for Canada import consignment.

CBSA notice from August 14th is quoted below with key dates in bold.

November 1, 2020 as of this date the following requirements will come into effect:
Starting on this date, regardless of warehouse type, electronic house bills may be used for all consolidated shipments, including:

1. “back-to-back” shipments that are single house bill shipments and
2. “buyer’s consolidations”, which are shipments where multiple house bills are consolidated but destined to the same importer

The following exceptions to electronic house bills will remain in place:

1. consolidated in-transit shipments moving from offshore through Canada and destined to the US may continue to be reported using electronic house bills or legacy ACI supplemental reports
2. Consolidated in-transit shipments of US origin goods that are entering Canada for offshore export will continue to be exempt from electronic house bills

If a consolidated primary cargo indicates in-transit, then all the house bills within the consolidation must be in-transit.

For details on new electronic house bill systems rules, please refer to Chapter 5 of the Electronic Commerce Client Requirements Document (ECCRD). For details on new arrival system rules, please refer to the modal chapters of the ECCRD.

Starting January 4, 2021, the use of electronic house bills must be used for all consolidated shipments, if not exempted. A 6-month period of informed compliance and zero-rated penalties will begin as of this date.

For additional information regarding eManifest requirements clients may visit the CBSA website.

For email support on eManifest policy and processes, contact the eManifest Help Desk at emanifest-manifestelectronique@cbsa-asfc.gc.ca.