Ever Been Between a Rock and a Hard Place?

It can happen... a customer wants a reduction to their freight bill because an Professional Transport Operator has inadvertently released confidential price information...  

The reason it happens is because it is common practice to affix the PARS sticker to the Canada Customs Invoice (CCI) or commercial invoice before forwarding it to the customs broker.  Then a receiver refuses to accept the cargo until the Professional Transport Operator provides proof the shipment has cleared customs putting the Professional Transport Operator in a position where he or she has little choice but to provide the consignee the stamped copy of the CCI or invoice as a proof of clearance.

There is a simple solution to this problem.  

• Affix the PARS sticker on the bill of lading instead of the Canada Customs Invoice or commercial invoice.  
• Send the bill of lading to the customs broker along with any the invoices and supporting documents.  
• Have the Border Services Officer stamp the bill of lading as a proof of release.   
• Only bring in the bill of lading, packing slips and other documents to receiving office and leave the CCI or Commercial Invoice in the truck.
• Then if the receiver wants a proof of clearance let them take a copy of the PARS barcoded stamped bill of lading and keep the original for your records.

Carriers who subscribe to Canada Border Services Agency’s Release Notification System (RNS) have another option.  

They can print a Release Notification Report from their RNS system (assuming their system can produce one) and forward it to the consignee or party requesting the proof of release.  Then by matching the bill of lading with the PARS sticker on it with the Release Notification Report you can prove the shipment has been released by CBSA.  This process works well especially when a carrier routes the documents through their office prior to the shipments being released.  It will allow dispatch or customer service to provide the proof of release even while the truck is enroute!

There are another benefits to this approach!  If the stamped proof of release has been misplaced, misfiled, enroute to the office or even in a processing queue within the office you can still quickly prove a shipment is released by printing off or sending a Release Notification Report and associating it with your bar coded bill of lading.  If you have a system that maintains the RNS  records for the required amount of time (i.e. 3 years commencing on January 1st of the year succeeding the date of release) the RNS system can be part of your record keeping strategy.   

Don't have RNS consider signing up for the service here!  We will maintain your RNS records indefinitely. (Note: Click on the Show All Services link and only select the PARS (RNS) Software service.)