CBSA system outage tracker

During a CBSA outage, EDI transmissions stop and all Canadian customs brokers revert to paper-based clearance. This is significantly slower — particularly for CFIA-regulated shipments, which can take 4 to 8 hours to clear. Border crossings remain open, but processing becomes manual and delays are common. For highway carriers, ensure all drivers carry two copies of the correct paperwork. CBSA will accept paper documentation during the outage and for 2 hours after resolution. No monetary penalties will be issued for failure to transmit required data during this time. If you have already transmitted your EDI document, do not resubmit — it adds to volume and may cause further delays.

Check our live tracker above for the current status of all CBSA systems.

CBSA rarely discloses the specific cause of an outage. Our tracker logs all known outages with dates, affected systems, and resolution times.

No — border crossings remain open during CBSA outages, but processing becomes manual and very slow, which can result in delayed shipments.