If you import or export commercial goods, AMPS is the mechanism the CBSA uses to enforce the rules you are expected to follow. Most penalties don't come from bad intent. They come from late accounting, an incorrect tariff classification, a value that doesn't hold up, or records that can't be produced on request. This guide explains what AMPS is, how the penalties are structured, the contraventions that come up most often, and the practical steps that keep you out of trouble.
What AMPS is
AMPS is the CBSA's civil, monetary penalty system for trade non-compliance. It applies across the trade chain: importers, exporters, carriers, customs brokers, and warehouse operators can all receive penalties for failing to meet their customs obligations. The penalties are administrative, not criminal. They're assessed against a business for a specific contravention rather than prosecuted in court, which means the focus is on correcting behaviour and protecting the revenue and reporting system, not on punishing a single honest mistake.
The specific contraventions, and the penalty attached to each one, are set out by the CBSA in a published reference. Each contravention is identified by a code, which is how the CBSA tracks whether a given failure is a first occurrence or a repeat. You can review the program directly through the CBSA AMPS program page.
How AMPS penalties are graduated
AMPS penalties are graduated. Each contravention has its own penalty that escalates by level for the first, second, and subsequent occurrences within a set retention period. A first occurrence carries a lower penalty than a repeat of the same contravention, and the amount climbs at each level. The design goal is to encourage compliance, not to punish a single honest error harshly.
A business that corrects course quickly sees a very different outcome than one that repeats the same contravention again and again. In practice, the cost of ignoring a recurring problem grows over time, while the cost of fixing it once stays low.
Because the figures change over time, the current amount for any given contravention is published in the CBSA Master Penalty Document, which lists each contravention by code along with its penalty levels. Always check that document for the live figure rather than relying on a number you saw elsewhere.
The most common contraventions
A handful of contraventions account for a large share of AMPS penalties. The recurring themes are accounting that's late and data fields that are wrong:
- Failure to pay duties and taxes, or to account for goods, on time.
- Incorrect tariff classification.
- Incorrect value for duty.
- Incorrect origin or tariff treatment.
- Failure to provide or keep required records.
- Failure to report goods.
The table below groups the most frequent ones. The penalty basis describes the structure, not a dollar figure, because the live amounts live in the Master Penalty Document.
| Contravention type | Example | Penalty basis |
|---|---|---|
| Late accounting or payment | Accounting or paying duties and taxes after the deadline | Graduated, escalates per occurrence; amount set in the CBSA Master Penalty Document |
| Incorrect classification | Declaring the wrong HS tariff classification number | Graduated, escalates per occurrence; amount set in the CBSA Master Penalty Document |
| Incorrect value for duty | Understating or misreporting the value declared for duty | Graduated, escalates per occurrence; amount set in the CBSA Master Penalty Document |
| Incorrect origin or tariff treatment | Claiming an origin or preferential treatment that does not apply | Graduated, escalates per occurrence; amount set in the CBSA Master Penalty Document |
| Records not kept or provided | Unable to produce required records on request | Graduated, escalates per occurrence; amount set in the CBSA Master Penalty Document |
If a penalty arrives as a Detailed Adjustment Statement, read it closely. It tells you which contravention was cited and what the CBSA expects in response.
Why origin errors are getting more attention right now
The stakes around origin and tariff treatment have gone up considerably, and August 2026 is not the time to be casual about this.
Canada is still working through a $311 million problem involving fraudulently labelled U.S. chicken — goods misdeclared to avoid applicable duties. That's not a clerical error. That's systemic origin fraud, and it's been public long enough that CBSA enforcement priorities have visibly shifted. Audits on origin claims are more thorough. Remission requests are getting more scrutiny. The agency is not in a forgiving mood on this file.
On top of that, CBSA's updated trade verification priorities — published earlier this year — have expanded their focus to include steel, aluminium, and trade agreement compliance specifically. If your goods touch any of those categories, assume you're more likely to be looked at, not less.
The retaliatory tariff environment has also made origin claims more valuable, and therefore more tempting to get wrong. CBSA guidance has been actively narrowing the scope of relief available under Canada's retaliatory tariff remission orders. EY flagged in recent weeks that CBSA extended surtax remission for two additional months — but that extension doesn't mean the underlying scrutiny has eased. If you've been claiming a tariff treatment based on guidance from six months ago, check whether that guidance still says what you think it says.
The practical consequence: an origin error that might have been a minor AMPS contravention two years ago can now sit on top of significant unpaid surtax liability. The penalty and the duty hit you at the same time.
How to avoid AMPS penalties
Most AMPS exposure is preventable. The same habits that keep an audit clean also keep penalties off your account:
- Classify accurately and document the reasoning. Most penalty-triggering errors are classification, value, or origin errors. Get the HS number right and record why you chose it.
- Account and pay on time. Late accounting and late payment are among the most common contraventions, and they're entirely within your control.
- Keep complete records for six years. Canadian customs record-keeping rules require importers to retain records for six years. Keep them organised and retrievable.
- Correct errors proactively. When you have reason to believe a declaration was wrong, a correction is required. Making it shows good faith rather than waiting to be caught.
- Use Voluntary Disclosures where appropriate. The CBSA Voluntary Disclosures process lets you come forward about past errors. In the current enforcement climate, proactive disclosure is a better position than being found out.
Many of these errors trace back to the same root cause as a CARM correction: a classification or valuation decision that was never properly documented. Fix the decision and the documentation, and the penalty exposure shrinks with it.
Where CustomsLogIQ fits
The contraventions that drive AMPS penalties are mostly data quality problems: a classification that's wrong, a value that doesn't hold up, an origin that can't be supported. CustomsLogIQ produces accurate, documented classification with full GIR reasoning and writes the audit trail behind every decision. That reduces the classification and valuation errors that trigger penalties in the first place, and it gives you a defensible record to point to when the CBSA questions a line, instead of rebuilding your reasoning under audit pressure.