TRADE ALERT

AQI Fee at Canada Land Border Effective November 24, 2006

(November 6, 2006)

In September 2006, the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced an interim rule stating that Canada would no longer be exempt from Agricultural Quarantine Inspection (AQI) user fee for commercial vehicles. 

Effective November 24, 2006, an AQI fee for commercial vehicles will be collected by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on behalf of APHIS. All commercial vehicles entering the United States from Canada will be required to pay an AQI fee, empty or not-empty, regardless of whether or not they are bringing in agricultural products. The AQI fee of $5.25 will be charged on a per crossing basis for commercial vehicles for the November 24, 2006 – December 31, 2006 period.

AQI Fee for 2007

The commercial vehicle annual AQI user fee will be $205.00 per calendar year. Of this amount, $100.00 goes to CBP, while $105.00 goes to APHIS for the AQI fee.

Commercial vehicles that do not pay the annual user fee must pay a fee per crossing. CBP and sources state that vehicles that do not pay an annual user fee will be required to pay a user fee per crossing of $10.75 ($5.50 goes to CBP, while $5.25 goes to APHIS for the AQI fee) each time the commercial vehicle enters the US. If the vehicle's annual user fee is not renewed, the transponder will continue to transmit information at the port and the per-crossing user fee will be charged.

For additional information on user fee decals, transponders, and the AQI fee for Canada, please refer to the following URL: http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/pleasure_boats/user_fee/user_fee_decal.xml.