EDI/Portal Clients
Frequently Asked Questions

You can check the status of transactions at any time using our Release Notification System (RNS) "Status Query" function. This tool queries the system for information on specific transactions or CCNs. The system generates messages such as:

• CCN not on file
• Transaction number not on file
• Goods released
• Goods required for examination – referred
• Goods may move, detain to destination (CFIA)
• Declaration accepted, awaiting arrival of goods
• Authorized to deliver – CSA shipment
• Declaration accepted, awaiting customs processing

New and enhanced eManifest notices are now available for EDI clients. These new notices offer benefits, such as:

• notification of the completeness of advance data sent to us by various parties in the trade chain
• notification of the arrival and status of shipments as they move through the commercial import process and
• improved communication between businesses and the CBSA which allows clients to share information with other registered trade chain partners

Contact the TCCU to get access to RNS and eManifest Notices.

If you receive a reject code W80 ("Release cannot be related to a consolidated cargo or House Bill"), the cargo control number (CCN) on the release entry is either a consolidated cargo or a consolidated House Bill. To correct this error, contact your carrier. If it is consolidated, you must get a new CCN and correct the transaction. If it is not consolidated, your carrier may contact the TCCU.

The declaration accepted notice is only sent when both the release request and the ACI cargo are on file. Customs brokers will not receive the declaration accepted notice if the ACI cargo has not been reported by the carrier or the freight forwarder.

Check with the other trade chain partners to confirm that all required documents have been accepted by the CBSA.

If you receive a reject message on the release transaction for "invalid status of request/cargo control number" or "CCN in history" (error code 464 and T36) the cargo control number (CCN) has been used previously.

You must get a new CCN from the carrier.

Refer to question 1 for more information on using the Release Notification System (RNS) to get CCN information.

If you are seeking information regarding a paper B3, cash entry or any paper release service option (i.e., ACROSS service options 117, 174, 331) please contact the CBSA office where the request was submitted. Similarly, any follow up questions on a paper RMD correction should be directed to the CBSA office where the RMD correction was submitted.

CFIA reject messages use error code 537 and the description of the reject message begins with "CFIA."

Contact the National Import Service Central (NISC) for assistance in troubleshooting these reject messages: 1-800-835-4486.

You will receive this message if you send a change notification after an arrival message is entered in our system for the goods, shipment or conveyance.

Contact the CBSA office of release directly to discuss how a change can be made to that transaction. Changes are handled by border services officers on a case-by-case basis.

Note: Clients can use the amend function to make post-arrival changes to highway cargo and conveyances, rail cargo and conveyances, House Bills and House Bill Close Messages. Refer to your Electronic Commerce Client Requirements Document for more information on how to use the amend function.

If you must have a transaction rejected (to make a change after it was sent), check with your IT, your software vendor or service provider to confirm if this step is necessary.

If your software depends on a reject to make a change, contact the port of release.

If you lost your GCKey password, you can create a new password. Go to the sign-in page for GCKey, where you can create a new password by answering the password recovery questions that you previously set up when you registered for a GCKey.

If you lost your GCKey username or the password recovery fails, you will have to create a new GCKey and user account.

The account owner/proxy account owner can then link the new user reference number (URN) to their business account.

If you are the account owner/proxy account owner, you will need to request a change of ownership for your business account by sending your new URN along with your profile information by e-mail to the Commercial Registration Unit (CRU) at cbsa.export_program-programme_exportation.asfc@cbsa-asfc.gc.ca.

A Cargo Control Number (CCN) identifies a Highway Cargo or House Bill Cargo Document that represents the initial record of a shipment that will arrive in Canada and enables the CBSA to control the movement of imported goods. The CCN is a unique reference number that can be up to 25 characters and contain both numbers and letters assigned by the carrier or freight forwarder. The CCN must begin with the CBSA-issued Carrier Code (already hard-coded in the field).

A Conveyance Reference Number (CRN) identifies a Highway Conveyance Document and provides information about the vehicle being used to transport goods entering Canada. The CRN is a unique reference number that can be up to 25 characters and contain both numbers and letters assigned by the carrier to a particular trip or departure. The CRN must begin with the CBSA-issued Carrier Code (already hard-coded in the field).

A Combined Highway Document includes a Highway Cargo Document (identified by a CCN) and a Highway Conveyance Document (identified by a CRN) into a single document for easier data entry.

Note: If you wish to check the status of your Combined Highway Document, you must check the Highway Cargo Document and Highway Conveyance Document statuses separately as they are processed as separate Trade Documents.

Please refer to section 6.3.2 (Creating a Combined Highway Document) of the eManifest Portal User Guide for more information.
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/prog/manif/portal-portail/guide-eng.html

A “change” can be made from the time the highway cargo or house bill cargo was submitted, up until the time prior to report. If the Highway Cargo or House Bill Cargo Document is in a “reported” or “arrived” status, then the client must submit an “amend” to update the document.

The Highway Conveyance Document can be changed or amended depending on the status of the document. After you have submitted a Highway Conveyance Document, you can edit your document and add the additional CCNs.

Please refer to section 6.6 (Editing a Submitted Document) of the eManifest Portal User Guide for more information.
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/prog/manif/portal-portail/guide-eng.html

The “HELD” notice informs clients that their goods are being held for further determination or processing and cannot be released.

No, you cannot change the document number of a CCN or CRN once it has been submitted. If you have entered the information incorrectly, you must cancel the incorrect document and then create the correct CCN and/or CRN and submit to the CBSA.

Please see section 6.7 (Cancelling a Submitted Document) of the eManifest Portal user guide for more information.
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/prog/manif/portal-portail/guide-eng.html

Primary CCN: The Cargo Control Number of the Cargo Control Document that was used to report [section 12(1) of Customs Act] the goods at the FPOA.

Example: The freight forwarder who has contracted with the primary carrier (e.g. the master loader) submits the required house bill data via EDI or the eManifest Portal. After transmitting their house bill data, the freight forwarder submits a house bill close message that links all their house bills to the primary CCN submitted by the carrier. In a single-tier consolidation scenario, the previous CCN is the primary CCN.

Previous CCN: Cargo Control Number of the Cargo Control Document that immediately preceded the document in question in the chain of cargo control.

Example: Subsequent freight forwarders who have contracted with freight forwarders in the same consolidation (e.g. co-loaders) submit the required house bill data via EDI or the eManifest Portal. After transmitting their house bill data, the freight forwarder submits a house bill close message that links all their house bills to the previous CCN submitted by the freight forwarder directly above them to declare closure of their shipment(s). In a multi-tiered consolidation scenario, the previous CCN is the consolidated house bill transmitted by the freight forwarder above you.

Note: It is important to remember that the lower level freight forwarders or co-loaders must quote the Previous CCN on their House Bill Close Message and not the Primary CCN. If a lower level freight forwarder quotes the primary CCN this will prevent the first level freight forwarder or master loader from submitting their House Bill Close Message.

A “Matched” notice indicates that the document has been linked to a related document. This notice indicates the following:

A “Not Matched” notice indicates a House bill has no links to a Close Message.

For more information on the “Matched” notices and other notices, request a copy of the eManifest presentation entitled Introduction to New and Enhanced eManifest Notices.

Marine (other than from USA: 24 hours prior to loading
Marine from USA: 24 hours prior to arrival
Air: 4 hours prior to arrival or at time of departure
Rail: 2 hours prior to arrival
Highway: 1 hour prior to arrival

A “change” can be made from the time the house bill cargo was submitted, up until the time prior to report. If the House Bill Cargo Document is in a “reported” or “arrived” status then the client must submit an “amend” to update the document.

Clients can refer to CBSA D-Memo 3-3-1
(Freight Forwarder Pre-arrival and Reporting Requirements Memorandum)
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/dm-md/d3/d3-3-1-eng.html#wb-cont

For more information on the new notices, request a copy of the eManifest presentation entitled Introduction to New and Enhanced eManifest Notices.

Once a House Bill or House Close Message has been “reported” or “arrived”, a client can no longer submit an electronic cancel.

A client must complete a BSF673 to request a manual cancellation of the House Bill and/or House Bill Close Message.
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/forms-formulaires/bsf673.pdf

Brokers and importers will still be able to submit paper entries at a customs port to clear commercial shipments; however, these entries may take longer to process. The CBSA encourages brokers and importers to submit entries via the Integrated Import Declaration (IID) to the greatest extent possible.

In these instances, the importer/broker would receive a “held notice” once the goods have arrived and if referred to secondary as shown below:

0020 Held for CBSA: Informs clients that cargo is being held for further determination/processing and cannot be released.

The IID SO 911 was designed for greater than the 999 lines, however because the legacy systems ACROSS and CCS have the 999 limitation and the 911 still has to interact with these systems the SO 911 is also limited to 999 invoice lines.

The TOTAL invoice lines for each IID is 999 lines. As such, you can report 999 CCNs on an IID, and then structure the invoices one per CCN or 800 for one CCN and 199 for another CCN etc. but the total cannot exceed 999 invoice lines on the IID.

When transmitting multiple Cargo Control Numbers (CCNs) using the IID, there are a number of system rules that must be followed to ensure smooth processing at arrival. Some of the system rules are detailed in the IID ECCRD, page 25:

Reporting of Multiple Cargo Control Numbers (CCNs)

The IID allows a single EDI release transaction to contain multiple Cargo Control Numbers (CCNs). The business rules for reporting multiple CCN(s) on the IID are as follows:

1. A minimum of one CCN must be referenced on the IID.
2. If the IID is submitted with a single CCN, the single CCN must be referenced at the Declaration level of the IID.
3. If the IID is submitted with multiple CCNs, the CCNs must be reported at the Invoice level of the IID.
4. All CCNs referenced on an IID must be non-consolidated documents.
5. All CCNs referenced on an IID submitted pre-arrival must arrive at the First Point of Arrival in the same conveyance.
6. If one CCN on the IID is referred for further processing or examination by the CBSA, the entire release and all CCNs associated to the IID will be referred.

Please note, all CCNs referenced on the IID that have been transmitted must be in “arrived” status, before the IID will be eligible for release. Also note, the maximum allowable CCNs referenced on the IID is 999. IID limitations are similar to RMDs, with the exception IID can be transmitted pre-arrival with multiple CCNs.

For each CCN referenced on the IID, a corresponding cargo document must be transmitted, unless otherwise exempt. Only one shipper and consignee can be transmitted per cargo document. For each unique consignee or shipper, a separate cargo document is required.

In regards to the SWII IID, the Message Function 4 is for pre-arrival changes whereas the Message Function 52 is for post arrival, pre-release changes.

Message Function 4 (Change)

All non-key fields can be changed (key fields that cannot be changed are: Business Number, Transaction ID and SO)

Message Function 52 (Amend)

Amend
All non-key fields can be changed (key fields that cannot be changed are: Business Number, Transaction ID and SO)

Adjust
Business Number, Transaction Number

The IID can be used to release any type of cargo document, primary or secondary (house bill). However, the IID was designed to support the new timeframes for release. Therefore, when the IID is transmitted and linked to an electronic house bill, the house bill must be “arrived” before the IID can be released. Therefore, an RNS release message will not be sent until all the cargo documents (CCNs) quoted on the IID have been arrived at FPOA via Conveyance Arrival Certification Message (CACM) or at the inland sufferance warehouse via Warehouse Arrival Certification Message. In the future when the final phase of eManifest is implemented, all release service options (including RMDs) will require an arrival before release will occur.

The RCS segment included in the Negative Application Acknowledgment indicates the PGA that has sent the request for additional information The ERC segment of the IID Reject contains a 3 digit standardized CBSA error code. The published list of error codes can be found at the following link: http://www.cbsa.gc.ca/eservices/error-erreur.pdf

Example of IID Reject

PGAs that apply live recommendations, such as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Transport Canada (TC), utilise the ERC segment to identify a generic 3 digit code and may provide further detail in the FTX segment.

Example of TC reject recommendation

Note: If multiple rejects are issued, the segments are repeated as necessary

The reference to the 15 minute wait period for DIF submission, currently only applies to CFIA regulated IIDs.

The wait for 15 minutes rule only applies if the IID is received before the associated DIF images. If all associated Images are received before the IID, processing/sharing of the IID and images will occur instantly.

If one or more of the associated images are missing upon receipt of the IID, the 15 minute timer will start. If any of the images are not received within this 15 minute window, a reject will be issued against the IID, to identify that one or more of the images were not captured.

The Regulated Commodities – Data Element Matching Criteria Tables are available on the CBSA webpage:
https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/prog/sw-gu/regcom-marreg/menu-eng.html

Yes, the SWI IID can be used to submit release requests for goods that are regulated by more than one PGA. For example, a shipment could contain goods regulated by the CFIA, ECCC and DFO and the release decision will be based on the combined release recommendations from each PGA.

No. When there is more than one PGA on a SWI IID, the Canada Border Services Agency sends the data to all PGAs concerned and then a final release decision is provided back to the broker/importer. If for example, a submission included both regulated goods from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and NRCan “rejected” the entry but CFIA “approved” the entry, the overall decision would be a “reject”.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Transport Canada and Global Affairs Canada (Steel, Beef & Veal, Agricultural Products, and Clothing and Textiles) need to make an “active” decision. All other PGAs (Health Canada, Natural Resources Canada, Public Health Agency of Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission) are based on risk rules within the SWI system.

As per the ECCRD CFIA Appendix B.1, “if the country of source is Canada, please contact the CFIA directly.”

To submit a SWI IID transaction that contains CFIA regulated goods with a country of origin that the importer deems to be Canada, the "Country of Origin" should be declared as Canada and the "Country of Source" should be declared as “US” (United States) with the “Exporting Country” as New York and the "End Use Code" should be Canadian Goods Returning (if AIRS requires an end use be declared).

Note: This should not be confused with using the SWI IID to process entries that are either outside the scope of the SWI initiative or require processing of paper upon arrival at the border so are not currently included as an IID EDI transmission option.

At this time, the permit request functionality through the IID is currently available to the beef and veal commodities group regulated by Global Affairs Canada (GAC). The functionality will later be introduced by a phased approach to further goods regulated by GAC, such as the Clothing and Textiles shipment specific permit

No, application for a LPCO is not required. The GIP 80 and 81 for steel are purely statistical (no quota) the GIP # only needs to be quoted, based on the HS codes. The GIP 20 is quota related, but for general allocations (first come first serve) again, GIP # only needs to be quoted.

The following TC Vehicles Programs are restricted to a single VIN per SWI IID submission. To avoid delays for clients registering their vehicles, CBSA has implemented a new validation rule which will trigger a reject if the IID contains more than one VIN number. This rule applies to the following Vehicles Programs:

• CMVSS Case-By-Case (B9.5.1)
• FMVSS Standard (B9.6.1)
• FMVSS Case-By-Case (B9.7.1)
• Vehicles for Parts (B9.11.1)

The TC Vehicles Programs listed below allow for multiple VINs, but are restricted to one VIN per commodity line, and all regulated commodities must be reported on the same invoice:

• CMVSS Appendix G (B9.4.1)
• Age Exemption (Greater than 15 Years) (B9.8.1)
• CMVSS Returning Vehicles (9.9.1)
• Unregulated Vehicles (B9.10.1)

Please note that the above restrictions do not apply to the CMVSS Appendix F program.

When brokers/importers commercially import a vehicle using the SWI IID (SO911) there is no Vehicle Import Form – Form 1 submitted. This form was dematerialized when the SWI IID was created and as such the CBSA cannot issue a Form-1 for these transactions. If your client is experiencing an issue with their provincial licensing office they should have that office contact the RIV as below:

Telephone: 1-888-848-8240 (toll free from within Canada or the United States) or 416-626-6812 (all other countries)
Fax: 416-626-0366
Email: support@support.riv.ca
Website: www.riv.ca

If your company has not received a bulletin from the Technical Commercial Client Unit (TCCU) indicating there is an outage, users should check the expiry date of their Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) certificate.

Windows users can locate the expiry date by following these steps:

1. click on the magnifying glass in the bottom left corner of the screen to access the Windows search function
2. type in “Entrust Certificate Explorer” and hit “Enter”
3. click on the provided search result “Entrust Certificate Explorer”
4. the fourth column in the pop up window entitled “Expiration Date” indicates the expiry date of the certificate

Email us at tccu-ustcc@cbsa-asfc.gc.ca for a copy of the Customs Internet Gateway (CIG) Participants Requirements Document (PRD). Section 4 contains a more detailed description of this procedure (including diagrams). Use “CIG PRD” in the subject line of your request.

To make sure your PKI certificate is still valid:

1. review your PKI registration paperwork to ensure it is not more than 5 years old
2. sign in to the certificate and use the password regularly (this will extend its life span)

Do this at least once a year to ensure the certificate refreshes regularly. This will prevent unexpected technical issues.

If you do not know or have forgotten your user ID or password, contact your IT department or your service provider.

You may also have a certificate for the testing environment with CBSA in addition to your certificate for production. The paperwork for each is separate and may expire on different dates. Follow the above steps for your testing certificate as well.

If you applied for or renewed your PKI certificate more than 5 years ago, it is not up to date and will no longer refresh automatically.

To renew your PKI registration:

1. download the registration forms from the Canada Revenue Agency website
2. email them to tccu-ustcc@cbsa-asfc.gc.ca

To make changes to information submitted at the time of registration or renewal, send amended forms to the TCCU within 48 hours of the change.

The TCCU will process your request/inquiry within its service standard. Due to the involvement of multiple agencies, you may experience longer processing times. Monitor the validity of certificates on a scheduled basis and take proactive measures to ensure continued validity and availability.

EDI application and testing process: Service standard

Yes. Clients may have multiple PKI certificates, each serving a different purpose.

For the PKI certificates needed for EDI transmission purposes, the TCCU can provide technical assistance on the CIG/PKI certificate and the LPCO certificate.

Contact Global Affairs Canada if the certificate requiring troubleshooting assistance relates to the Global Affairs Canada PKI certificate, Export and Import Controls System.

Contact your organization’s IT department or service provider.

The TCCU considers PKI or LPCO problem in production an emergency. If you do not have an IT department or service provider, call the TCCU at any time 24/7 at 1-888-957-7224. Find out more about EDI/Portal services supported by the TCCU.

Submit the following information when you contact the TCCU for assistance:

• company name
• requestor’s contact information (name and phone number)
• problem description
• time and date when you noticed the problem
• CIG certificate number(s)

Take note of the CIG certificate number(s) before problems arise. Have the number(s) readily available when seeking technical assistance.

Email us at tccu-ustcc@cbsa-asfc.gc.ca for a guide on how to locate the certificate number(s). Use “CIG PRD” in the subject line of your request.