The RPP bond: your own security with the CBSA
Release Prior to Payment lets your goods leave the border before you have paid duties and taxes on them. Since the RPP transition ended in May 2025, that privilege depends on security your own business has posted — not on your broker's bond. This is the single most common reason importers who believed they were covered are not.
- ProgramRelease Prior to Payment (RPP)
- Posted bythe importer, not the broker
- Optionssurety bond or cash deposit
- Sincethe RPP transition ended May 2025
In short
What RPP security is for
Without Release Prior to Payment, duties and taxes fall due before the CBSA releases your shipment. With it, the goods move first and you account for them on the CARM timeline. The trade-off is that the CBSA wants to be secured for what you will owe.
Read the details
Since the RPP transition ended in May 2025, the importer — not the broker — must post that security. The required amount is calculated from your highest duty exposure over the prior twelve months, and you can request a self-assessment adjustment if that figure overstates your real position.
How to post your security
Enrol in RPP in CARM
In the CARM Client Portal, open the RPP enrolment section and choose a cash deposit (100% of your calculated requirement) or a surety/non-cash bond from a provider.
Let CARM calculate your security
The system calculates your required security from your highest duty exposure over the prior 12 months; you can request a self-assessment adjustment.
Wait for confirmation
Submit and wait for CBSA confirmation of enrolment, which is shown in the portal.
Budget for it
Budget accordingly: bond premiums are a small annual percentage of the secured amount, while cash deposits tie up working capital but carry no premium.
Work out what you have to post
The CBSA bases your requirement on the highest monthly balance of duties and taxes you owed over the previous 12 months, per RM account. Enter that figure and this shows both ways of covering it.
Duties and taxes including GST, plus adjustments and interest. New importer with no history? Use your forecast.
An estimate of the published formula, not a quote. The CBSA calculates your actual requirement from your own account and shows it in the CARM portal, and a surety will price the bond on your credit.
If everything you import is duty-free
An importer who solely brings in goods that are unconditionally free of duties posts no security at all. The moment one transaction carries duties or taxes, the requirement applies again.
Memorandum D17-1-8: Release Prior to Payment Privilege (CBSA, 21 October 2024), paragraphs 15–19
Why “my broker is bonded” is no longer an answer
A broker's bond no longer extends RPP to you. Many importers who assumed “my broker is bonded, so I'm covered” were removed from RPP and now face cash-in-advance or release delays.
RPP bond FAQ
Does my broker's bond cover me?
Not since the RPP transition ended in May 2025. A broker's bond no longer extends Release Prior to Payment to your business, and importers who relied on it were removed from the program.
Surety bond or cash deposit?
A cash deposit must cover 100% of your calculated requirement and ties up working capital, but carries no premium. A surety (non-cash) bond from a provider costs a small annual percentage of the secured amount and leaves your cash free.
How is the required amount calculated?
From your highest duty exposure over the prior twelve months. If that figure overstates your real exposure, you can request a self-assessment adjustment.
What happens if I post no security?
You lose Release Prior to Payment, which in practice means cash-in-advance or release delays — duties and taxes have to be settled before the CBSA will release the goods.
Where do I enrol?
In the RPP enrolment section of the CARM Client Portal. Your business must already be registered in the portal with a designated Business Account Manager before you can enrol.
Keep going
RPP security is one requirement of several. These cover the rest.
Keep reading
The next steps most people take from here.
Import/export number (RM)
The import/export account number the CBSA needs before your first shipment.
Read →Importing
The whole path to importing commercial goods into Canada, in order.
Read →Import readiness
Check your import readiness: CARM, RPP security, classification, permits.
Read →Get a quote
Describe your shipments and we will connect you with a licensed customs broker.
Read →