A group of major US and Canadian manufacturers, including auto makers, has made its own submission to the US and Canadian working groups advising the two governments on an ‘action plan’ for perimeter security. They estimate that their members account for about 35% of trade across the border.

The group, Businesses for Better Borders, calls for no-stop “unimpeded access” to crossing the physical land  border (i.e. no inspection, no paperwork) for companies that have undertaken approved measures.

They would separate commercial traffic into three levels. From their submission:

Level 1. Companies that have not invested in trade compliance or security partnerships with government who must provide full transactional data details well in advance of shipmentarrival at the shared border so that governments can complete the necessary risk analysis. Data requirements and reporting timeframes should be harmonized to the existing U.S. Automated Customs Environment.

Level 2. Companies that have only invested in supply chain security trusted trader programs should be provided dedicated primary inspection lanes with data requirements and reporting time frames aligned with current U.S. C-TPAT/FAST.

Level 3. Companies that have invested in both supply chain security and trade compliance trusted trader programs should be provided with unimpeded access across the border with a rolling stop process that eliminates transactional data reporting requirements with full data reported summarily post importation. This process would be an enhanced version of the current Canadian CSA/FAST requirements.

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