On May 19, 2015, the White House released the 2014 Beyond the Border Implementation Report summarizing recent accomplishments and progress under the Beyond the Border Partnership, an initiative by the U.S. and Canada to improve trade and travel between the two countries.
According to the report, “Canada and the United States are expecting to launch a fully automated harmonization process allowing a joint application for cross-border highway carriers in the PIP and C-TPAT programs by the fall of 2015. This will allow companies interested in joining both programs to submit a single application, and to manage only one Partnership account instead of two.”
Additional achievements include the following:
- The NEXUS trusted traveler program was expanded
- Air Canada became the first foreign carrier to participate in TSA Pre✓®.
- The second joint investment plan for border infrastructure was completed in late 2014
- Both countries are moving toward a common approach to screening travelers through the ongoing implementation of automated sharing of biographic and biometric visa and immigration information.
- Canada and the U.S. concluded the Integrated Cargo Security Strategy pilots
- Canada and the U.S. trained and deployed Shiprider teams to provide cross-border continuity of law enforcement operations in shared waterways, and conducted surge operations
The report also highlights that, “each country is on the path to provide its own Single Window initiative that will allow U.S. exporters and Canadian and U.S. importers to electronically submit all information required to comply with customs and other government regulations.”
The White House press release can be accessed here
The report can be accessed here
