Disputing a CBSA decision: section 60 requests and appeals to the CITT

Which CBSA decisions can you dispute under section 60?

Section 58 of the Customs Act treats the origin, tariff classification and value for duty you declare on a Commercial Accounting Declaration (CAD) as the CBSA's determination, made when you account for the goods. Section 59 then lets an officer re-determine any of them within four years, after a verification, an audit or whenever the Minister considers it advisable, and requires the officer to give notice with the rationale. Section 60 is how you dispute that notice.

Memorandum D11-6-7, revised for CARM on October 21, 2024, lists what a section 60 request covers:

• a re-determination or further re-determination of origin, tariff classification, value for duty or marking, given with a notice under subsection 59(2) (in CARM, a Statement of Adjustment);
• an advance ruling on classification or origin, or its modification or revocation, under subsection 60(2) (CBSA advance rulings);
• goods classified as prohibited under tariff item 9898.00.00.

It does not cover anti-dumping and countervailing duties under the Special Import Measures Act (Memorandum D14-1-3 has that route), a national customs ruling before the goods are imported, or an extension-of-time application (D11-6-9).

Two things are often confused with a section 60 request. A self-correction under section 32.2 and a refund claim under section 74 are your own adjustments, not disputes; the routes for both are in correcting a Canadian entry. And surtax and GST follow the line: if the CBSA reclassifies or revalues a line, the surtax and GST on it move with the decision, and the request disputes the decision that moved them.

Who can file, and by when?

D11-6-7 (paragraph 3) lists who may file after a notice under subsection 59(2): the importer, the owner of the goods at release, any person liable for the duties at release, the person who accounted for the goods, and, where a free trade agreement preference was claimed, the exporter or producer who completed the certificate of origin. A broker or consultant can file as agent with a written authorization or a delegation in the CARM Client Portal.

The deadline is in the Act: "within 90 days after the notice is given" (subsection 60(1)). D11-6-7 says that if day 90 falls on a day the CBSA's Recourse Directorate is closed, the deadline moves to the next business day. Count from the date on the Statement of Adjustment, not from the day someone in your company first read it.

Why must you pay or post security first?

Subsection 60(1) allows the request "only after all amounts owing as duties and interest in respect of the goods are paid or security satisfactory to the Minister is given in respect of the total amount owing". Appendix C of D11-6-7 adds three practical rules:

• The amount includes GST. Security must cover all amounts owing as duties and accrued interest, including the GST.
• The forms are limited. Examples are certified cheques, transferable Government of Canada bonds or a bond from an acceptable financial institution; the CBSA decides whether letters of credit or promissory notes are satisfactory. A bond should be lodged several days before day 90 so it can be validated, and if you post security with the request, D11-6-7 (paragraph 12) asks you to file through the e-appeal form rather than the portal.
• Interest keeps running. The statement already includes interest up to the decision date (D11-6-5, paragraph 9). Appendix C says further interest begins to accrue 30 days after the section 59 decision, and posting security "does not stop the interest from accruing". Memorandum D11-6-5 sets the specified rate as the prescribed rate plus six percentage points.

Paying instead of securing stops interest and costs nothing if you win: section 66 pays interest at the prescribed rate on any amount refunded, from the day after it was paid. Securing preserves cash but lets interest build at the higher rate. The choice is a finance decision as much as a legal one; set it against the processing times further down.

How do you file a section 60 request in CARM?

D11-6-7 says commercial importers registered in the CARM Client Portal should file there, using the appeal function on the disputed CAD and attaching the prescribed information. Appendix A lists what every request must contain:

1. Name, business number and import-export (RM) account, contact details, and the representative's details and authorization.
2. A copy of the decision in dispute: the Statement of Adjustment and version number, the CARM case number, or for pre-CARM entries the Detailed Adjustment Statement (DAS).
3. The trade program in dispute: tariff classification, value for duty, origin or marking.
4. The goods, identified precisely (product number, description, model).
5. A detailed rationale explaining why your classification, value or origin applies, with the documents that support it.
6. For more than one transaction, a Recourse Adjustment Spreadsheet (Annex A) listing every transaction and line in dispute.

The spreadsheet is where an audit pays off. Annex A sets three blocks of columns for each line: as accounted for (CAD transaction number, accounting and release dates, line, invoice description, model or SKU, tariff treatment, classification, value for currency conversion, value for duty, duties, GST), as determined by the CBSA (the section 59 decision date, CAD version and line, and the CBSA's treatment, classification, value, duties, interest and GST), and as requested (your treatment, classification, value, duties, interest and GST). Building that by hand from statements of adjustment is the slow part of most appeals.

For entries accounted for before CARM, D11-6-7 says you convert the pre-CARM DAS into a CAD to file in the portal; with 25 or more pre-CARM statements, convert one, file it as the representative transaction, and attach the rest in the Annex A format. If the request is not acknowledged within two weeks, contact the Recourse Directorate. A request without the prescribed information may be rejected, and D11-6-7 warns that in that case "your legislated time limits will not be protected"; a rejected request can be resubmitted once the gaps are fixed, if every requirement for a valid request is then met.

What happens to your later shipments of the same goods while you wait?

This is the trap that costs most. D11-6-7 says that making a section 60 request "does not protect the time limit on other adjustments for same goods and/or issue". Two consequences follow:

• The decision you are disputing is still reason to believe. Memorandum D11-6-6 lists formal assessment documents such as re-determinations among the specific information that starts the 90-day correction period under section 32.2, and that information applies to same and similar goods (same 8-digit tariff item). Disagreeing with the CBSA does not suspend the obligation for other entries. Ask the CBSA in writing how it wants those lines handled while the appeal runs, and keep the answer.
• Every later decision has its own 90 days. When the CBSA issues further statements of adjustment on later entries, each must be disputed within 90 days of its own notice. D11-6-7 (paragraph 16) says to add them to the open appeal through the e-appeal form, quoting the appeal file number, so they are reviewed together.

If you win, section 61(1)(c) lets the President extend a CITT or court decision to "subsequent goods", like goods imported later by the same importer, under Memorandum D11-6-3.

How long does the CBSA take to decide?

An Appeals Officer, delegated by the President, reviews the request, may ask for more information, and issues a decision with its rationale under subsection 60(5). The CBSA's appeals page, last updated July 30, 2026, gave these current estimated processing times:

D11-6-7 (paragraph 23) says service standards may not be met when the CBSA is waiting for a CITT or court decision on identical or similar goods, when the file needs laboratory analysis or information from the supplier, or when the request is unusually complex or large. A classification dispute filed today should be planned as a decision more than a year away.

What if you missed the 90 days?

Section 60.1 lets you apply to the President for an extension. Memorandum D11-6-9 calls the total window "one year and ninety days". Subsection 60.1(6) allows an extension only if the application is made within one year after the 90 days expired and you show all three of the following:

1. Within the 90 days you were unable to act or to give a mandate to act, or you had a bona fide intention to file.
2. It would be just and equitable to grant the application.
3. You applied as soon as circumstances permitted.

D11-6-9 says extensions are "typically granted only when there is clear evidence" of a diligent effort to file on time, and that a representative's error is not a ground: "the client's recourse lies with the representative". If the President refuses, or does not decide within 90 days, section 60.2 lets you apply to the Canadian International Trade Tribunal on the same conditions; after a refusal, within 90 days of it.

How does an appeal to the CITT work?

Section 67 lets "a person aggrieved by a decision of the President" under section 60 or 61 appeal to the Canadian International Trade Tribunal by filing a notice of appeal in writing with both the President and the Tribunal within 90 days after notice of the decision. The Tribunal's customs and excise appeals guide sets out the steps:

1. Notice of appeal, filed electronically with a copy of the President's decision. The Tribunal acknowledges it, assigns an appeal number, and usually sets the hearing date.
2. Appellant's brief within 60 days after the acknowledgement (rule 34), with a copy to Department of Justice counsel for the CBSA.
3. Respondent's brief within 60 days of receiving yours (rule 35).
4. Expert reports at least 30 days before the hearing, rebuttal reports 20 days before; other documents and physical exhibits at least 20 days before.
5. Hearing, published in the Canada Gazette at least 21 days ahead (subsection 67(2)), in person or on written submissions. Hearings are generally public, with confidential information heard in camera.
6. Decision, usually within 120 days of the hearing, according to the guide.

You may represent yourself or use counsel, legal or not. If you miss the 90 days, section 67.1 allows an application to the Tribunal within one year, on the same conditions as section 60.1 plus a fourth: there are reasonable grounds for the appeal.

While a CITT or Federal Court appeal is pending, section 69 lets you get back what you paid by giving security for it instead. After the Tribunal, any party may appeal to the Federal Court of Appeal within 90 days, on a question of law only (section 68).

How does one dispute play out, from statement of adjustment to appeal?

An importer's broker has declared a product line under a tariff item at Free for 12 months, CAD 1,200,000 in value for duty. After a verification, the CBSA re-determines the lines under a tariff item at 6.5% MFN (rates illustrative). The Statement of Adjustment shows CAD 78,000 in duty and CAD 3,900 in GST, at 5% on the added duty, plus interest. Under paragraph 9 of Memorandum D11-6-5, interest on a re-determination that leaves an amount owing runs "from the day after the amount was payable until the date of the re-determination", so on 12 months of entries each line already carries interest from its original payment due date. That accrued interest is part of what must be paid or secured.

If the importer had secured rather than paid, the security must stretch across the whole period: D11-6-5 says the CBSA may ask for more security when interest makes it insufficient, and the shortfall is otherwise payable immediately.

How should past entries feed the request?

A section 60 request is won on the lines and the evidence, and both come from your own records. Before filing, run the disputed product through every CAD line in the four-year window: the lines in the decision, later lines of the same goods that the CBSA has not yet reached, and similar goods under the same 8-digit item. That shows the real amount at stake, which later lines need their own corrections or disputes, and whether the CBSA's reading would also lower duty on other lines.

TariffSense reads CAD/B3 lines and broker accounting exports, and for any disputed product lays out each line as accounted, as determined and as requested, with duty, surtax and GST recalculated on the line's accounting date. That is the shape the Annex A spreadsheet asks for; your broker or counsel files the request. See the post-entry audit page for what goes in and what comes back, and the duty calculator for rates by tariff item, origin and date.

The records you need are the six-year records the Customs Act already requires (what to keep and for how long). A request without product literature, invoices and proof of payment is a request the Appeals Officer cannot decide in your favour.

How does this differ from a US protest?

Cross-border importers often expect one process. The Canadian route starts from a CBSA re-determination with its own 90-day clock and requires payment or security before you file; the US route starts from liquidation and runs on different deadlines. Do not use one country's calendar for the other. The US steps are in how to file a customs protest.

What should you do next on your own entries?

When a Statement of Adjustment arrives, diarise day 30 (interest) and day 90 (the request), and decide early between paying and securing. Pull every line of the same and similar goods from your accounting export, not only the lines in the decision. If no decision has arrived yet, audit the lines first: the CAD/B3 audit guide lists the checks, and the verification guide explains what the CBSA looks at. Confirm the route, the deadline and the security with a licensed customs broker or trade counsel before filing.