U.S., Canadian Customs agencies put reciprocity plan into effect

As of March 25, U.S. customs inspectors have been posted at three Canadian ports in order to assist in identifying and seizing any dangerous goods that could arrive in the millions of containers transiting the ports each year.

Three American agents were stationed each in Montreal, Vancouver and Halifax, in accordance with the Smart Border Plan, a common anti-terrorist border security plan established between Canada and the U.S. in December, 2001.

Canadian inspectors, meanwhile, wil begin work at ports in Newark, N.J., and Seattle, Washington.

Agents will be exchanging information back and forth about goods, with U.S. inspectors screening manifests of ships arriving at the three Canadian ports and asking their Canadian colleagues to check the containers if there are concerns about suspect goods.

Canadian officials will be able to do the same at the U.S. ports. On both sides of the border, it’s expected that closer attention will be paid to cargo from countries identified as “high-risk.”

Both countries will also be able to share intelligence, getting access to each others’ databases.

There has been an arrangement in place for years that allowed inspectors in Newark to ask their counterparts to take a close look at a shipment of containers destined for the United States via a Canadian port. Now the agents will actually be stationed in the Canadian ports.