Notices

Export Import Control System (EICS): New Financial Administration Rules

Serial No. 138
Date: May 16, 2003

Table of Contents

1.0 Purpose

1.1 The purpose of this Notice is to provide information to applicants regarding new financial procedures on fees payable pursuant to the Export and Import Permits and Certificates Fees Order which will be introduced with the implementation of EICS. New financial administration rules are being introduced regarding interest charges, applicant's billings and refunds. Applicants will be able to view their daily permit transactions in EICS and reconcile this activity with their monthly statements.

2.0 Duration

2.1 This Notice shall remain in effect until further notice.

3.0 Authority

3.1 Section 155.1 (1) of the Financial Administrative Act (FAA) requires federal government departments to charge interest on all overdue third party Accounts Receivables..3.1 L'article 155.1 (1) de la Loi sur la gestion des finances publiques (LGFP) oblige les ministères fédéraux à imposer des intérêts sur tous les comptes débiteurs en souffrance de tiers..

3. 2 Section 155.2 of the FAA allows federal departments to charge an administrative fee where, in payment or settlement of an amount due to Her Majesty, a person

  • (a) tenders an instrument that is subsequently dishonoured; or
  • (b) has authorized the direct debiting at a specified time of an account at a financial institution and the debit is not made at the specified time.

4.0 New Billing Procedures

4.1 Invoicing

EICS will be available to applicants to process transactions from 4:00am to 12:00 midnight Monday to Friday and from 4:00am to 8:00pm on Saturdays.

All invoices for permit transactions processed through EICS will be produced by the Department’s Financial Management System (DFMS). EICS will not issue invoices or financial statements to applicants. EICS permit transactions will be posted to the applicants’s account in the DFMS normally the day after the permit transaction has occurred. Friday and Saturday’s transactions will be posted to the applicant’s account on the following Monday.

One invoice and/or credit memo will appear on the applicant’s account for each day’s transactions.

Any applicant receiving permits processed directly by the Export Import Controls Bureau (EICB) or receiving special orders (commodity books, reports) must pay the associated fees in advance.

Monthly statements will be mailed to all applicants or to the parent organization if there are subsidiary (children) affiliates involved.

4.2 Customer Statements

EICB applicants will receive monthly Customer Account Statements (see Annex 1) produced by the DFMS once EICS is implemented. Applicants will also continue to receive IPPS customer account statements until all outstanding IPPS customer balances have been transferred from IPPS to the DFMS. This transfer is scheduled to occur two full calendar months after EICS is implemented. The customer statements will be mailed to each applicant detailing the recent transaction activity and will provide a current account balance.

4.3 Interest Charges

All EICB applicants will be subject to interest charges on overdue accounts for permits issued from EICS. Existing overdue accounts receivable balances residing in IPPS will not be subject to interest charges until customer balances are transferred over from IPPS to the DFMS (see Section 5.2). This grace period will allow the client to settle account balances in IPPS without incurring interest charges.

4.4 Interest Calculation

Interest is calculated and applied in accordance with Treasury Board regulations and the Financial Administrative Act.

The applicable interest rate will be calculated by adding 3% to the Bank of Canada’s monthly average bank rate from the preceding month. See Bank of Canada’s bank rate

Interest calculation will be applied retroactively to overdue invoices to charge interest from the last calendar day of the month following the date of the invoice.

Where the government makes overpayments or erroneous payments as a result of fraud, falsification or wilful misrepresentation, interest charges will occur from the date on which the overpayment or erroneous payment is made.

Interest charges will be calculated and posted against customer accounts on the last working day of each month.

4.5 Interest Formula

Amount subject to X interest rate X number of days the account interest calculation is overdue/ 365 days

4.6 Payment terms

All fees owing to the government will be payable on a Net 30 days basis, from the last calendar day of the month following the invoice date.

4.7 Baseline date

This is the last calendar day of the month following the date of the invoice. It is the date on which the interest program starts to calculate interest for overdue accounts.

4.8 Tolerance period

A grace period of 5 calendar days is granted to all applicants on all overdue accounts. If payment is received within 5 days of the due date of the invoice, no interest charges are applied to the customer’s account.

4.9 Interest Threshold

Interest is not applied to the customer’s account if the total interest calculated is less than five dollars ($5.00).

4.10 Presentation on Customer Account

One interest invoice line will appear on the customer’s monthly statement for the total amount of interest payable for all overdue invoices.

4.11 Payment

Applicants may continue to pay by their preferred method of payment (cheque, credit card, wire transfer, or money order) payable to the Receiver General of Canada. Payment by cash is not recommended. With the exception of payments made by post-dated cheques, payment is considered to have been received on the day it is made at a financial institution or when it first arrives in the Department.

4.12 Administrative charge

An administrative charge of twenty-five dollars ($25.00) is payable where, in payment or settlement of an amount due, a client

  • (a) tenders an instrument that is subsequently dishonoured; or
  • (b) has authorized the direct debiting at a specified time, of an account at a financial institution and the debit is not made at the specified time.

An invoice for the administrative charge will appear on the customer’s next monthly statement.

4.13 Disputed Amounts

In the case where an amount owing is in dispute, the company must contact the Department advising of the amount in dispute and providing an explanation of the disagreement. Interest charges will continue to accrue while the item is in dispute, but will be credited to the customer’s account if the dispute is resolved in the company’s favour.

4.14 Block on Applicant's Account in EICS

A block will be placed on the applicant’s account in EICS to suspend permit issuance privileges if:

  • (a) the applicants’s account is 60 days or more overdue and/or
  • (b) an applicant's cheque or other form of payment is not honoured at a financial institution because of non-sufficient funds.

4.15 Collection Agency

Unpaid accounts that are 90 days or more overdue will be sent to a collection agency.

4.16 Taxes

GST is applicable for the sale of departmental publications (eg. commodity books) or reports.

4.17 Refunds

In most cases a credit on the applicant's account is provided when all of the following conditions are met:

  • (a) the reason for the cancellation of a permit is approved by Trade Controls Policy Division (EPM), Softwood Lumber Division (EPS) or by the Export Controls Division (EPE) AND
  • (b) the request for the credit is approved by the Financial Services AND
  • (c) a replacement permit is issued.No interest will be paid if a company decides to leave the refund on deposit as a credit memo with the department.

4.18 Nominal Customer Balances

No collection or payment action will be taken by the department if the applicant’s account has a balance below ten dollars ($10.00) and it is anticipated that there will be no further business between the applicant and the department.

5.0 Daily Permit Transactions

5.1 Daily Permit Transaction Report

Applicants may view a record of their daily permit transactions in EICS. The EICS Daily Financial Transaction Report provides a listing of all billable permits and credits issued to the applicants’s account. To view the report, follow these steps:

  • a. Logon to EICS
  • b. Menupath: Invoice < Query
  • c. Input the required parameters (date format is YY/MM/DD).
  • d. Select Search.
  • e. Select View EICS Daily Financial Transaction Report

5.2 Reconciliation

Applicants may view their daily permit transactions in EICS and reconcile them to their monthly customer statement produced by the DFMS.

6.0 Applications for Permits or Certificates

When an applicant applies directly to the EICB for a permit or certificate and the application is not complete, the cheque will be deposited by the Bureau and the application will be returned to the client for completion

7.0 Further Information

Financial Services
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
125 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0G2
Attention: Ms. Lise Lachance or Ms. Marilyn Marcoux

Further Contact Information:

Ms. Lise Lachance
Telephone (613) 944-2496
Fax: (613) 996-2136
Email: lise.lachance@international.gc.ca

Ms. Marilyn Marcoux
Telephone (613) 995-7942
Fax: (613) 996-2136
Email: marilyn.marcoux@international.gc.ca