CBSA
The CBSA (Canada Border Services Agency) is Canada's customs and border agency. It clears commercial freight entering Canada, collects duties and taxes, and runs the systems carriers and customs brokers use, including ACI eManifest, PARS and CARM.
The CBSA is Canada's equivalent of CBP in the U.S. and ANAM in Mexico. For truck freight, it requires advance electronic cargo data from the carrier through ACI eManifest, release data from the importer's customs broker, often through PARS, and payment of duties and GST through the CARM system.
The CBSA also administers its own trusted-trader programs, including Partners in Protection and FAST lanes at the busiest land crossings.
What this means when you move freight
Canada-bound loads need two things lined up before dispatch: the carrier must be set up to transmit ACI eManifest, and the importer must have a CBSA import account (a business number registered in CARM); in practice most use a Canadian customs broker. Missing either one stops the truck at the border regardless of how the U.S. or Mexican side of the move went.
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