COPA/AOPA Survey: New Canadian Cross-Border Requirement

Editor’s note: We received a request from our friends at COPA to publish this in Bits and Pieces. Cross-border GA travel is something that can potentially affect all Canadian pilots. The balance between national security and minimizing bureaucracy needs to be maintained, and seeing the agencies on both side of the border working together should help significantly. Please find the time to read this and complete the survey.

February 1, 2015

COPA and AOPA need all pilots to complete this survey. Your opinion counts!

In previous articles (August 2014 www.MultiBriefs.com/briefs/copa/081414.html and October 2014 www.MultiBriefs.com/briefs/COPA/eFlight-CrossBorderRequirement.pdf), I alerted members to the development of an additional procedure being developed by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) for crossing the border. This survey will provide statistical feedback to Canadian and U.S. officials to find a solution that both addresses their goals and minimizes duplication. COPA is heavily involved in finding creative solutions to minimize the detrimental consequences that any additional requirements will have on our sector of aviation.

I would like to emphasize that no changes have been made to the existing requirements. Any change to the requirements for crossing the border in a GA aircraft will, at the earliest, occur sometime in 2016.

COPA highlighted that the fundamental issue is the elimination of duplication. Since all pilots must complete the U.S. eAPIS reports for entering and exiting the United States, it would be a relatively simple extension for the United States to send information to Canada for its security purposes.

CBSA officials continue to collaborate with our sector, while at the same time respecting the Government of Canada’s privacy rules and policies, which make the work more challenging. A Washington meeting succeeded in convincing the CBSA that its U.S. counterparts are willing to cooperate. COPA will continue to participate in the ongoing working group meetings as well as with our counterparts in the United States in an effort to develop a program that both meets our government’s needs and minimizes the impact on our sector of aviation.

To complete this COPA/AOPA survey on CBSA’s new Canadian cross-border requirement, click here.

Patrick Gilligan
Vice President, Operations
Canadian Owners and Pilots Association
71 Bank St, 7th floor
Ottawa, ON
K1P 5N2
Ph 613-236-4901 (ext104)