SWI and CARM Updates

July 17, 2020

SWI and CARM: CBSA’s Game Changers to Simplify the Import Process for Canadians

Information, timelines, and resources related to the CBSA’s SWI and CARM initiatives

What are these changes all about?

If there are two acronyms pin on the board for the trade community, they are most certainly SWI and CARM. These government initiatives will not only help importers save time and trees, but they will allow CBSA and participating government agencies (PGA’s) to process information digitally and more efficiently.
As of August 17, 2020, the CBSA will decommission the legacy Other Government Departments (OGD) release service options (OGD PARS and OGD RMD). Canadian importers will then be able to submit one customs declaration for goods requiring additional information from OGD’s using the Integrated Import Declaration (IID). However, businesses and brokers will have to wait until further notice for the full release of CARM, CBSA’s new online interface, to make e-declarations and e-payments.

The Single Window Initiative

The single window initiative (SWI) will digitalize and simplify the way importers, brokers, and government agencies process information pertaining to imported goods. The single window—the single declaration—will allow importers to complete one customs declaration for goods normally regulated by OGD’s through EDI.
The SWI will offer two service options:

Integrated Import Declaration (IID – SO911)
License, Permit, Certificate and Other Documentation (LPCO Image – SO 927)

An IID can be completed for regulated and non-regulated commodities. It includes more data fields than the current customs import declaration. All the information normally collected by OGD’s (e.g., CFIA) on a separate declaration will now be included on the IID for the CBSA and the PGA concerned. The following PGA’s are part of the SWI:

Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
Environment and Climate Change Canada
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Global Affairs Canada
Health Canada
Natural Resources Canada
Public Health Agency of Canada
Transport Canada

Find the complete list of products impacted by the SWI for electronic OGD PARS and OGD RMD on CBSA’s website.

CBSA’s Assessment and Revenue Management (CARM)

CBSA is going digital, and its CARM initiative will help Canadian importers save time, money, and paper.
CBSA’s Assessment and Revenue Management is an online client portal that will change the way importers and brokers send and receive information from CBSA on a daily basis. The CARM interface will:

simplify interactions with CBSA by submitting e-declarations;
reduce the amount of repetitive information to declare;
allow importers and brokers to make e-payments; and
give access to tools for the calculation of duties and taxes.

CARM’s implementation is divided in three release phases:
Phase 1: the creation of the Accounts Receivable Ledger (ARL) for commercial accounting and payments made to CBSA;
Phase 2: the use of the online client portal for self-service tools such as creating a secure importer account, invoicing, and making payments;
Phase 3: the replacement of existent customs forms (B3 and B2) with a new electronic declaration that will facilitate requests and corrections.
With its first phase released in January 2016, the implementation was expected to reach completion by the summer 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is now postponed with no final date on the horizon. A detailed timeline with all the upcoming release dates will be available on CBSA’s website once its operations return to normal after the pandemic.