Adjustment of Charges Paid or Payable Under the Storage of Goods Regulations for the 2019–2020 to 2025–2026 Fiscal Years Remission Order: SI/2025-132

Canada Gazette, Part II, Volume 159, Number 27

Registration
SI/2025-132 December 31, 2025

FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION ACT

Adjustment of Charges Paid or Payable Under the Storage of Goods Regulations for the 2019–2020 to 2025–2026 Fiscal Years Remission Order

P.C. 2025-979 December 18, 2025

Her Excellency the Governor General in Council, considering that the collection of the amounts is unreasonable, on the recommendation of the Treasury Board and the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, under subsection 23(2.1)footnote a of the Financial Administration Actfootnote b, remits the amounts of the annual adjustments — made under subsection 17(1) of the Service Fees Actfootnote c — to the charges paid or payable under subsections 4(1)footnote d and 6(1)footnote e of the Storage of Goods Regulationsfootnote f for the 2019–2020 to 2025–2026 fiscal years.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order.)

Proposal

The Governor in Council, considering that collection of the debt is unreasonable, on the recommendation of the Treasury Board and the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, makes the Adjustment of Charges Paid or Payable Under the Storage of Goods Regulations for the 2019–2020 to 2025–2026 Fiscal Years Remission Order [the Remission Order] pursuant to subsection 23(2.1) of the Financial Administration Act.

Objective

The objective of the Remission Order is to remit outstanding debts that resulted from the non-collection of inflation-based adjustments to certain fees charged by the Canada Border Services Agency between April 1, 2019, and March 31, 2026.

Background

The Canada Border Services Agency (the Agency) is responsible for providing integrated border services that support national security and public safety priorities and facilitate the free flow of persons and goods.

The majority of activities and services provided by the Agency, such as processing travellers and examining goods entering Canada during regular business hours, are publicly funded. Other activities and services are managed on a cost recovery basis and are subject to fees which may be set by agreement or by regulation.

The rates charged by the Agency for regulatory fees are based on a number of fee-setting regulations, including the Storage of Goods Regulations, which stipulate when storage charges are payable (subsections 4(1) and 6(1)) and the amounts to be charged (schedule) for the storage of commercial goods left at a customs office or deposited in a place of safe-keeping, such as King’s warehouses and highway frontier examining warehouses.

The Service Fees Act received royal assent in 2017 to increase transparency, accountability and predictability for fees charged by the Government of Canada. Pursuant to subsection 17(1) of the Service Fees Act, depending on specified criteria, certain fees are adjusted each fiscal year in accordance with the Consumer Price Index in order to account for inflation and to better reflect the costs of delivering services.

The Service Fees Act came into force in stages, with section 17 coming into force on April 1, 2018, effectively making 2019–2020 the first fiscal year for which Consumer Price Index adjustments to fees took effect. However, from fiscal years 2019–2020 to 2025–2026, for the fees under the Storage of Goods Regulations, the Canada Border Services Agency erroneously continued to collect fees in the amounts initially set out by the fee-setting regulations, without adjusting annually by the Consumer Price Index. The Canada Border Services Agency does not have the authority to forego the revenues that would have been collected by charging the correct Consumer Price Index-adjusted rates. The foregone revenues represent a debt to the Government of Canada totalling $3,200.06 between fiscal years 2019–2020 and 2024–2025 and an estimated total of $1,582.04 for fiscal year 2025–2026.

The Canada Border Services Agency has taken steps to ensure that fees under the Storage of Goods Regulations that are subject to annual inflationary adjustments under the Service Fees Act will be charged at rates in accordance with the Service Fees Act beginning on April 1, 2026, and will be adjusted annually thereafter.

Implications

Tables 1 to 7, below, provide details on the portions of the fees in the Storage of Goods Regulations that are remitted (or are estimated to be remitted) through the Remission Order.

Considering the transaction volumes for these fees, collection would be exceedingly administratively burdensome, as it would require isolating every transaction involving an applicable fee, calculating the amount owed (which is very small on a per-transaction level), and requesting and processing payment from each client. Additionally, clients are not responsible for the Agency having charged incorrect amounts. For these reasons, collection would be unreasonable and remission of these debts is the appropriate approach.

Table 1: Summary of the fees under the Storage of Goods Regulations for which the mandatory fee adjustments were not collected between April 1, 2019, and March 31, 2020
Fee name Transaction volume (A) Fee amount charged (B) Adjusted fee amount (C) Total foregone revenue ((C-B) x A)
Schedule Item 1: Storage of commercial goods left at a customs office or deposited in a place of safe-keeping — any automobile, truck or other vehicle and any self-propelled machinery - per day or part thereof 299 $10 $10.22 $65.78
Schedule Item 2: Storage of commercial goods left at a customs office or deposited in a place of safe-keeping — any shipment of goods other than the goods described in Schedule Item 1 — per 50 kg per day 107 $0.45 $0.46 $1.06
Schedule Item 2: Storage of commercial goods left at a customs office or deposited in a place of safe-keeping — any shipment of goods other than the goods described in Schedule Item 1 — minimum daily charge 2 117 $5 $5.11 $232.87
Total for fiscal year 2019–2020 N/A N/A N/A $299.71
Table 2: Summary of the fees under the Storage of Goods Regulations for which the mandatory fee adjustments were not collected between April 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021
Fee name Transaction volume (A) Fee amount charged (B) Adjusted fee amount (C) Total foregone revenue ((C-B) x A)
Schedule Item 1: Storage of commercial goods left at a customs office or deposited in a place of safe-keeping — any automobile, truck or other vehicle and any self-propelled machinery — per day or part thereof 230 $10 $10.42 $97.61
Schedule Item 2: Storage of commercial goods left at a customs office or deposited in a place of safe-keeping — any shipment of goods other than the goods described in Schedule Item 1 — per 50 kg per day 35 $0.45 $0.47 $0.67
Schedule Item 2: Storage of commercial goods left at a customs office or deposited in a place of safe-keeping — any shipment of goods other than the goods described in Schedule Item 1 — minimum daily charge 1 748 $5 $5.21 $370.93
Total for fiscal year 2020–2021 N/A N/A N/A $469.21
Table 3: Summary of the fees under the Storage of Goods Regulations for which the mandatory fee adjustments were not collected between April 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022
Fee name Transaction volume (A) Fee amount charged (B) Adjusted fee amount (C) Total foregone revenue ((C-B) x A)
Schedule Item 1: Storage of commercial goods left at a customs office or deposited in a place of safe-keeping — any automobile, truck or other vehicle and any self-propelled machinery — per day or part thereof 394 $10 $10.40 $159.00
Schedule Item 2: Storage of commercial goods left at a customs office or deposited in a place of safe-keeping — any shipment of goods other than the goods described in Schedule Item 1 — per 50 kg per day 351 $0.45 $0.47 $6.37
Schedule Item 2: Storage of commercial goods left at a customs office or deposited in a place of safe-keeping — any shipment of goods other than the goods described in Schedule Item 1 — minimum daily charge 888 $5 $5.20 $179.18
Total for fiscal year 2021–2022 N/A N/A N/A $344.55

Note: Adjusted fee amounts for fiscal year 2021–2022 are lower than the previous year’s amounts due to the Consumer Price Index falling by 0.2% in April 2020 on a year-over-year basis.

Table 4: Summary of the fees under the Storage of Goods Regulations for which the mandatory fee adjustments were not collected between April 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023
Fee name Transaction volume (A) Fee amount charged (B) Adjusted fee amount (C) Total foregone revenue ((C-B) x A)
Schedule Item 1: Storage of commercial goods left at a customs office or deposited in a place of safe-keeping — any automobile, truck or other vehicle and any self-propelled machinery — per day or part thereof 163 $10 $10.76 $123.44
Schedule Item 2: Storage of commercial goods left at a customs office or deposited in a place of safe-keeping — any shipment of goods other than the goods described in Schedule Item 1 — per 50 kg per day 180 $0.45 $0.48 $6.13
Schedule Item 2: Storage of commercial goods left at a customs office or deposited in a place of safe-keeping — any shipment of goods other than the goods described in Schedule Item 1 — minimum daily charge 837 $5 $5.38 $316.92
Total for fiscal year 2022–2023 N/A N/A N/A $446.49
Table 5: Summary of the fees under the Storage of Goods Regulations for which the mandatory fee adjustments were not collected between April 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024
Fee name Transaction volume (A) Fee amount charged (B) Adjusted fee amount (C) Total foregone revenue ((C-B) x A)
Schedule Item 1: Storage of commercial goods left at a customs office or deposited in a place of safe-keeping — any automobile, truck or other vehicle and any self-propelled machinery — per day or part thereof 75 $10 $11.49 $111.66
Schedule Item 2: Storage of commercial goods left at a customs office or deposited in a place of safe-keeping — any shipment of goods other than the goods described in Schedule Item 1 — per 50 kg per day 60 $0.45 $0.52 $4.02
Schedule Item 2: Storage of commercial goods left at a customs office or deposited in a place of safe-keeping — any shipment of goods other than the goods described in Schedule Item 1 — minimum daily charge 446 $5 $5.74 $331.99
Total for fiscal year 2023–2024 N/A N/A N/A $447.67
Table 6: Summary of the fees under the Storage of Goods Regulations for which the mandatory fee adjustments were not collected between April 1, 2024, and March 31, 2025
Fee name Transaction volume (A) Fee amount charged (B) Adjusted fee amount (C) Total foregone revenue ((C-B) x A)
Schedule Item 1: Storage of commercial goods left at a customs office or deposited in a place of safe-keeping — any automobile, truck or other vehicle and any self-propelled machinery — per day or part thereof 190 $10 $11.99 $378.91
Schedule Item 2: Storage of commercial goods left at a customs office or deposited in a place of safe-keeping — any shipment of goods other than the goods described in Schedule Item 1 — per 50 kg per day 265 $0.45 $0.54 $23.78
Schedule Item 2: Storage of commercial goods left at a customs office or deposited in a place of safe-keeping — any shipment of goods other than the goods described in Schedule Item 1 — minimum daily charge 792 $5 $6.00 $789.73
Total for fiscal year 2024–2025 N/A N/A N/A $1,192.43
Table 7: Summary of the fees under the Storage of Goods Regulations for which the mandatory fee adjustments were not collected between April 1, 2025, and March 31, 2026
Fee name Transaction volume (A) Fee amount charged (B) Adjusted fee amount (C) Total foregone revenue ((C-B) x A)
Schedule Item 1: Storage of commercial goods left at a customs office or deposited in a place of safe-keeping — any automobile, truck or other vehicle and any self-propelled machinery — per day or part thereof 209 $10 $12.32 $484.49
Schedule Item 2: Storage of commercial goods left at a customs office or deposited in a place of safe-keeping — any shipment of goods other than the goods described in Schedule Item 1 — per 50 kg per day 292 $0.45 $0.55 $30.41
Schedule Item 2: Storage of commercial goods left at a customs office or deposited in a place of safe-keeping — any shipment of goods other than the goods described in Schedule Item 1 — minimum daily charge 921 $5 $6.16 $1,067.15
Total for fiscal year 2025–2026 N/A N/A N/A $1,582.04

Note: For fiscal year 2025–2026 currently in progress, transaction volumes are estimates, and are equivalent to the highest actual transaction volume for each fee over the past three fiscal years, plus 10 percent. This approach ensures that the remission amount for 2025–2026 will be sufficient to cover all actual unbilled Consumer Price Index increases after the close of the fiscal year, and that no additional remission will be required.

Accountability

All remissions associated with the Remission Order will be reported in the Canada Border Services Agency’s Fees Reports and Public Accounts.

Contact

Louis Desmeules
Deputy Chief Financial Officer and Director General
Planning and Resource Management Directorate
Finance and Corporate Management Branch
Canada Border Services Agency
Telephone: 438‑334‑5648
Email: Louis.Desmeules@cbsa-asfc.gc.ca