Business Simplification Initiative

“Business simplification” refers to any changes that make it easier for businesses to interact with the CBSA. This includes: providing timely, accurate and authoritative information to clients and stakeholders; improving access to information and services; providing certainty to business by establishing and publishing service standards; and developing innovative ways to improve or simplify processes, policies and programs.

In 2007 the Government of Canada established the Paperwork Burden Reduction Initiative (PBRI), a government-wide initiative dedicated to the reduction of red tape and other government processes that are cumbersome on Canadian business.

The CBSA fulfilled its requirements under the PBRI, but went one step further, and established the Business Simplification Initiative (BSI). The BSI allows the CBSA to adopt a broader approach to the PBRI and to seek additional ways to improve the clarity and efficiency of its commercial processes and programs. The goal is to ensure that meaningful benefits are realized for the business community — to make it simpler, less time-consuming and less costly for Canadian businesses to meet their import and export compliance obligations. Under the BSI, the CBSA aims to align CBSA programs with the current business reality so that the Agency can advance that much closer to its vision of a smart, secure and efficient border.