72 hour notification

[Manitoba Moose]

Can someone help on the 72 hour notification process regarding importing used equipment from the US to Canada?

As it stands now, every vehicle, tractor, bike, skidsteer, etc., the importer has to send a notice to US customs that this unit is being brought to Canada. So customer sends a letter/note stating the VIN and Model of equipment being imported to US customs at, usually the port closest to his city.

I contacted US Customs and Border Protection, the people who administer this law of pre-notification, and the response when I asked why do we have to cross at the port that the notice was sent to was "Dems the rules, boy" in the most authoritative voice I ever heard.

So when I asked what happens if you have an LTL load and have 3 or 4 of these machines that cross at different ports, what do we do now? Bring everything in bond and keep going from border crossing to border crossing just so we follow "the rules, boy". He didn't think that was funny, btw...

I was under the impression that this was one border and we had the ability to cross anywhere we wanted to. Nope, not when it comes to used machinery. "You have to cross where the 72 hours was sent to so the officer can match up the paperwork with the equipment."

When I suggested that they can fax or email the info to where the carrier was crossing with the equipment, I got another "Dems the rules, boy".

So, I says to the very authoritative voice from US CBP "Or do you not trust that the officers at every port can read a fax or email properly enough to check VIN numbers. After all, the 72 hour notification was sent by fax or email to the prot, correct?"

I was then referred to the Dept of Homeland Security so they could address my question.

Now what? Do I bother going through the motion and being frustrated by trying to educate a US government employee or do I just drop it and follow "the rules, boy"?

 

[micmac]

Vehicles leaving the US

The last time I hauled cars was in Feb of 2008 so I have not kept up with any changes but at that time, as long as the title had been faxed to a US port of exit where they are set up to process cars and the driver had the copy of the fax confirmation with him and the vehicle, it did not matter if the fax had gone to a different port. The vin # gets entered into the same US Customs system for their search - There were times when we had everything set up for exiting at Port Huron MI and the fax had been sent to Lewiston NY and when the car crossed at Port Huron as long as you had the time stamped fax confirmation, preferably right on the copy of the title, all was good. We were crossing 3 times a week at Port Huron with 6/7 cars each time and had no problems but maybe it was because US Customs got to know us. If you call a different port you might get a different answer.