Canada will soon adopt the 24-hour advance cargo manifest notification rule for inbound ocean cargoes, according to the National Industrial Transportation League. Under the rule, which takes effect in April 2004, Canadian Customs will require carriers or shippers to submit a manifest and customer data on shipments bound for Canadian ports 24 hours prior to loading at a foreign port. The data must be submitted electronically.

That move parallels an advance notice requirement the United States adopted earlier this year. The rule was implemented in response to security concerns over the contents of marine containers coming into the country. U.S. security officials had lobbied hard for passage of the Canadian rule because many U.S.-bound shipments from overseas land at Canadian ports.

In another joint effort, Canadian and U.S. Customs and Canada's two major railroads said that they had agreed on a declaration of principles aimed at providing security on rail shipments entering the United States. The agreement, signed by the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (as it's now known), the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway, outlines how freight moving on the railroads into the United States will be targeted, screened and examined. According to the U.S. agency, the agreement includes guidelines for collecting advance electronic manifest information and for installing imaging and radiation detection equipment at seven rail border crossings.