The CSCB attended a seminar in Ottawa on AMPS and wish to
bring the following highlights to the attention of members:

1. Any change to the scheduled implementation date of April
1 will be made once customs has performed a review, in
February, of the penalty activity during the grace period.

2. Customs have confirmed that NPA's (Notice of Penalty
Assessment), issued to importers who have used a customs
broker will not be sent to the customs broker. The only NPA
a broker will see is one that levies a penalty against the
broker.

3. Contravention backgrounders will be available on the
CCRA site only after the current Master Penalty Document
(version 1.9) has been updated. The time frame given was two
weeks.

4. At the end of the grace period, all AMPS infractions
will be erased from the client's history, except for CSA live
penalties.

5. Once the NPA has been issued, there are four responses
that can be made:

(a) The client can pay the penalty.
(b) The client can make a formal appeal (redress). The
time period for redress has been extended from 30 days to 90
days.
(c) The client can request a correction if they believe
that a contravention did not occur or if there is an obvious
error. The request for correction is to be made at the local
point of issue.
(d) The client can enter into a Penalty Relief Agreement.
This response addresses the issue of systemic problems on the
part of the client.

Members will be kept apprised of any and all AMPS updates,
and are encouraged to provide the CSCB with examples of
infractions that they have seen during this grace period.