Guide
The graduated penalty framework CBSA uses for customs non-compliance.
AMPS (Administrative Monetary Penalty System) is CBSA's graduated penalty framework for customs non-compliance. Penalties range from around CAD $150 for first-time minor infractions (late ACI eManifest, missing document) to thousands of dollars for repeated or serious violations. A three-year rolling track record determines severity: the same infraction costs more the second and third time it happens. AMPS is separate from duty owing — a penalty does not offset duty, it is on top of it.
Every AMPS contravention has a code (e.g. C152 for failure to submit advance commercial information). Each code has a first-offence penalty, a second-offence penalty, and a third-or-subsequent-offence penalty, with the count reset on a three-year rolling basis.
Carriers who file ACI late once a year rarely feel AMPS meaningfully. Carriers who file late weekly can hit the third-offence penalty in months, and the costs compound quickly — third-tier penalties for some contraventions run into four figures per incident.
The most common AMPS hits for highway carriers:
C152 — Failure to submit advance commercial information. Late or missing ACI eManifest. First offence typically CAD $2,000, scaling up with repetition. The single biggest AMPS exposure for most carriers.
C378 — Failure to make goods available for examination. Driver moved the load from the inspection area without release. Serious; first-offence penalties run in the thousands.
C360 — Failure to report goods. Driver arrived without an eManifest or without a paper fallback. CBSA sees this as a fundamental compliance failure.
CBSA issues a Notice of Penalty Assessment (NPA), either at the crossing or by mail, specifying the contravention code, the tier (first/second/third offence), and the amount. The carrier has 90 days to pay or to request redress through the CBSA Recourse Directorate.
Redress is a formal appeal process. It is not automatic and it takes time — typically 6-18 months. Frivolous appeals are rejected; legitimate procedural-error appeals (wrong code, miscounted tier) are often successful.
The single most effective AMPS-reduction strategy is filing ACI eManifests at the correct time — not last-minute. Most carriers who rack up AMPS contraventions do so from habitual late filing, not from serious compliance failures.
The second most effective strategy is keeping an audit trail: when an AMPS notice is issued for a filing that you believe was actually on time, having the original submission timestamp from your eManifest software turns an appeal from he-said-she-said into documentary evidence.
Functionally yes, but legally no. AMPS penalties are administrative rather than criminal — they do not carry a criminal conviction and are not processed through the courts. They are still enforceable debts to the Crown.
Yes. The formal mechanism is a request for redress to the CBSA Recourse Directorate, filed within 90 days of the Notice of Penalty Assessment. The process takes 6-18 months and benefits from documentary evidence (filing timestamps, driver communications, load-shipment records).
Usually not directly. AMPS is issued to the carrier (or importer or broker), not the driver. However, repeated carrier AMPS contraventions can affect CTPAT status and indirectly affect the value of driver FAST cards.
CBSA does not publish a self-serve portal for carrier AMPS history. The easiest way to track is to keep your own NPA log and to ask your broker for CBSA correspondence referencing prior contraventions.
Written for operational context by the BorderPro team. Not legal or customs-compliance advice — verify program specifics with CBSA, CBP, or a licensed customs broker before acting on them. Programs evolve and this page may not reflect every recent change.
BorderPro files ACE and ACI eManifests, tracks PARS/PAPS, and surfaces broker RNS — in one dashboard.