CIFFA asks Canadian Government for help to have US respect Confidentiality of Canadian Exporters and Importers.

August 18, 2003

Subject: Confidentiality Issue

Dear Ministers,

We are CIFFA - the Canadian International Freight Forwarders Association Inc. and it was on December 13, 2002 that we first drew your attention to our concerns about third country (specifically Canadian) trade information being made publicly available in the United States. For easy reference you can access the letter through our website as follows:
http://www.ciffa.com/downloads/2002/12/18/Letter%20to%20DFAITWeb%20Version.pdf

We have now learned that on August 11, 2003 the US Department of Homeland Security has published its intent to repatriate the former USCS confidentiality rules under its newly constituted authority as BCBP (Bureau of Customs and Border Protection). At the same time, this announcement is inviting submissions and commentaries to the proposed action:
http://www.strtrade.com/wtf/source/fr8-11-03_customs_disclosure-procedures.txt .Our original submission to USCS, requesting that Canadian trade database under AMS rules be withheld from public disclosure, was to no avail. Our submission is posted at the following link: http://www.ciffa.com/news/2003_01_24_N3.asp

As BCBP is promulgating the same rule once again under the mandate of the DHS, we feel that this time, the Government of Canada should make the request on behalf of Canadian industry. The proposal that the an individual owner of the goods may request for confidential treatment of his manifest information is an onerous task for Canadian importers and exporters who should not even be subject to the U.S. Tariff Act in the first place and evidently such request, if granted, is good for a period of only two years and does not extend to commodity description, quantities and city of orgin/destination. Such FROB and in-transit cargo manifest information have nothing to do with U.S. trade and its public disclosure under their Freedom of Information Act compromises the competitiveness of Canadian trade and is harmful to our industries.

We note that Section 552(b)(1)(A) of the Freedom of Information Act cited in Section 1431c(2)(B) of the Tariff Act allows for matters to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy, by Executive Order. We feel that because third country, FROB and in-transit cargo manifest information are confidential data obtained under CSI solely for the purpose of container security, they would properly constitute such matters.

May we therefore respectfully request that our Government seek the agreement with the relevant US authorities to exempt Canadian commercial information from disclosure a fortiori as a matter of foreign policy?

Respectfully submitted,
Canadian International Freight Forwarders Association

H.J. (George) Kuhn
Executive Director