Your product is distributed both domestically and internationally. The terms of your sales to Canada are FOB your customer's door, duty and tax paid. Your company is operating as a non-resident importer and your Canadian customers are located throughout the country - from Victoria, B.C. to Halifax, N.S. You have opted to use the services of a large Canadian customs broker because this allows you to deal with a single firm, with multiple offices and cross-country coverage.

Your traffic manager is your control center. He/she is responsible for getting your products to your customers quickly, and hassle free. If there are any questions or concerns that come up along the way, this person is supposed to deal with them quickly and efficiently.

Problem:

Your control center is being inundated with phone calls and fax messages from the many branch offices of your customs broker-all dealing with the same problem. (Example - what is the value of a particular "no charge" promotion item on the invoice?)

Figure #1 represents your current operational flow. Documentation for customs clearance travels with your shipments. On arrival in Canada, the carrier delivers the documentation to your customs broker who then prepares the necessary documentation and arranges for Customs release. The carrier subsequently delivers the goods to your customer. This method of obtaining customs release is reactive, cumbersome, subject to delays at busy ports, subject to errors in judgement by the carrier, the possible loss of documentation and is generally out of date.

Solution:

With the introduction of electronic release in 1996, customs brokerage firms at any single location in Canada, can arrange the Customs release of goods at virtually any Customs office in the country, without any intervention from anyone at the port of arrival. An agency relationship remains in place, however, should on-site attendance ever be required.

Figure #2 represents the operational flow using today's technology. All documentation, regardless of clearance point, is faxed toll free, to the head office of J.B. Ellis and Co. Ltd., in Vancouver, B.C. On receipt, the information necessary to obtain c ustoms release is transmitted directly into Revenue Canada's computer, so the data is available at all the Customs automated release points across Canada. A customs officer reviews the information and makes a release decision which is attached to the elec tronic file - all this while the shipment is en route to Canada. On arrival, the carrier produces a bar coded document to the customs officer which identifies the electronic file. Confirmation of the release takes place followed by delivery of the shipment.