Have You Left Your CARM Account Dormant?

‍An Editor's Note: While reading this blog, please note on April 19, 2024, the CBSA announced the May 2024 implementation date is postponed to October 21, 2024.

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The delay of the Canada Border Services Agency Assessment and Revenue Management (CARM) Release 2 came with a sigh of relief from many Canadian importers that had not yet gone through the process of setting up a CARM Client Portal. However, for those proactive users who did, this delay presented an annoying challenge of having their GC Key deactivated for lack of use. In this blog we will explore why this is happening and how to avoid it whilst still being prepared for CARM in 2023.

CARM is a new multi-phase, multi-year initiative which will modernize and streamline the collection of duties and taxes on goods imported into Canada.

Everything You Need To Know About CARM 

One of the two options to sign in your CARM account is the Government of Canada Key or GC Key. The GC Key lets you securely access any of your Government of Canada online services of which CARM is one. The GC Key includes a username and password that you choose and you must create security questions. This keeps your data secure and lets you recover your account. If you do not already have a GC Key sign up for one.

The CARM system was programmed to automatically deactivate CARM Client Profile (CCP) users who were inactive for a period of 180 consecutive days. Only the personal user access was affected by this issue, business account registration was not affected. This caused a lot of turmoil for trade chain partners who were onboarding to CARM and setting up employees with user profiles in preparation for the original CARM Release 2 date in early 2022. 

The CBSA confirmed March 17, 2022 that the 180 day deactivation functionality if a user did not sign in to the portal was disabled and going forward accounts would not be locked. CBSA further announced that if a user profile was deactivated before March 17,2022 the user must contact the CARM helpdesk to have it re-activated. 

Contact CARM helpdesk online: Client support contact form. 

Telephone: Call 1-800-461-9999 | Hours of Operation: Monday-Friday 7 am to 5 pm ET

On May 12, 2022 CBSA further announced that all Clients who transmit data using CARM, CERS,eManifest and Trusted Trader Portals and use the GC Key that the government of Canada will be introducing a new optional account recovery process . This was announced with the following Bulletin:

Bulletin 5381 - GCKey Account and Password Recovery

“The Government of Canada branded credential service known as GCKey, will be introducing a new optional account recovery process on May 15, 2022 to help users self-recover a user ID or password through an email address.

You will need to use a unique email address for each GCKey you wish to register for the optional account recovery process. For example, if you have multiple GCKeys, you will need to use a separate email recovery address for each one. Enrolling for the account recovery process is separate from your CARM Client Portal (CCP) account and does not change the email address associated with your CCP profile. 

If you require assistance, please contact the GC Key Service team as listed below.

Contact the GCKey Service:

Telephone

• 1-855-438-1102 (Canada & the United States)
• 1-800-2318-6290 (Outside Canada and the United States)

Text Telephone (TTY/TDD)

• 1-855-438-1103

Available 24/7”

Should you need any assistance with setting up your CARM account or have any CARM questions please contact us at pcb.ca/carm.