What Is PIP (Partners in Protection), and What Are Its Requirements?

Partners in Protection (PIP) is a voluntary supply chain security program administered by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). It establishes a partnership between businesses and the agency to help prevent smuggling and other criminal activity involving commercial shipments.

Membership involves a review of how the business protects its shipments during transportation and storage, even when contracted carriers or warehouses handle the freight.

What Does PIP Membership Offer?

Companies join the program partly to reduce interruptions when moving goods across the border. The benefits listed by CBSA include lower examination rates, trusted-trader recognition, and access to Free and Secure Trade (FAST) lanes for qualifying shipments.

To use FAST lanes, both the shipment and the driver must meet the applicable eligibility requirements. Inspections can still delay the truck, so dispatchers should leave room for border delays when booking delivery appointments.

In the United States, Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT) serves a similar purpose. The mutual recognition arrangement between PIP and CTPAT allows approved members to receive certain benefits in both countries. The authorities have agreed that their standards and assessment methods are compatible. Companies seeking membership in both programs must apply separately to each authority.

Who Can Apply?

In Canada, the program is open to commercial carriers across all transportation modes, importers and exporters, warehouse operators, freight forwarders, and customs brokers. Couriers enroll as carriers.

For U.S. businesses, eligibility is limited to:

• Carriers holding a valid Canadian carrier code.
• Importers conducting business in Canada that hold a Canadian business number and file Canadian customs declarations.

Applicants must own or operate facilities that are located in Canada or the United States and are involved in international commercial shipments.

Applicants should review the operating history requirements early. They need 12 months of cross-border activity, including at least one shipment moved or arranged within the 90 days before applying.

A carrier that has been operating for only three months has not yet met that threshold. An established importer can review its recent shipment records to confirm whether it meets the activity requirement.

Applicants must also be solvent, have no unresolved debts to the Crown, and not be in undischarged bankruptcy. Certain convictions and significant regulatory violations can make an applicant ineligible.

What Does CBSA Expect Under the PIP Minimum Security Requirements?

The program’s minimum requirements cover employees, facilities, transportation equipment, and shipment data. They also address work performed by outside providers.

Corporate and Physical Security

Employee training covers recognizing and reporting suspicious activity during daily work. For warehouse staff, this includes recognizing and reporting unauthorized access to loading areas. Drivers learn to identify signs of interference with their equipment and report them to the appropriate person.

A written risk assessment identifies the threats facing the business and explains how management addresses them.

Cybersecurity measures protect access to dispatch systems containing pickup instructions and delivery addresses. An account left active after an employee’s departure could allow someone to change those details and divert a load. Physical access controls restrict entry to premises and cargo areas.

PIP Cargo Security Requirements

Bolt and cable seals are among the devices used to secure freight containers and trailers. Their condition and identification numbers help staff detect possible tampering. Staff must investigate any seal number that doesn’t match the shipping record, even when the seal appears intact.

CBSA reviews equipment inspections and the company’s procedures for handling suspected tampering. Cargo records also help establish whether the goods received match the accompanying documentation.

Security measures also address contamination. Soil and pests can travel with shipments on equipment or wood packaging, so the assessment covers cleanliness and equipment condition.

PIP Business Partner Security Requirements

Once a subcontracted carrier collects freight from a secure warehouse, it controls the vehicle during transportation and is responsible for protecting the load while it is in its custody.

The company must explain how it selects and monitors that carrier. For contracted storage, the company must explain the warehouse operator’s security controls and who has access to the goods.

These responsibilities are recorded in the PIP security profile. The profile needs to identify which safeguards depend on outside providers, including providers working at locations the company doesn’t manage.

What Does the PIP Application Process Involve?

CBSA reviews the submitted profile and conducts a risk assessment before arranging site validation where required. Preparing the submission involves confirming the procedures used at each terminal, particularly when the business operates several locations.

The Role of the PIP Security Profile

Warehouse managers are the right people to confirm where loaded trailers actually wait overnight. If one terminal uses an open overflow lot, a company-wide statement that all trailers remain inside fenced premises would misrepresent that location.

The profile needs to describe the overflow lot and how the trailers are protected there.

After an acquisition, staff at the acquired location may still follow the previous owner’s procedures. The profile must describe the procedures currently followed at that site.

What PIP Site Validation Assesses

Site validation gives an officer an opportunity to examine the controls described in the submission. At shared premises, this includes establishing which access controls the company manages and which the building operator manages.

CBSA uses the assessment findings to decide whether to approve membership.

Keeping PIP Membership Current

CBSA requires members to update their company and security profiles immediately when information changes. Members also report relevant threats and respond to requests from the agency. The PIP minimum security requirements remain in force after approval.

When dispatch starts using a different carrier, the company reviews how that provider protects freight during transport. Moving goods to another warehouse requires a review of access to the building and the areas used for loading or storage.

If the employee responsible for the company’s participation in the program leaves, their replacement needs access to the program correspondence and application records. An outstanding agency request may have a response deadline, and the person taking over has to establish what was sent and what remains unanswered.

Revalidation follows the fourth anniversary of membership and involves a profile review and renewed site validation. CBSA reserves the right to conduct compliance reviews between revalidations. Failure to meet the program’s conditions puts membership at risk of suspension or cancellation.

Planning for PIP Membership Costs

CBSA charges no fee to join the PIP program.

The preparation budget covers employee time, documentation work, and any facility improvements. Consulting is optional.

For a business with three terminals, several managers may need to spend time preparing the application while also handling their regular duties. Reviewing existing records helps identify what still needs to be done. Staff time spent gathering information from contractors also adds to the cost, even when the business handles the application internally. Repairs or changes to access controls add direct expenses.

Maintaining membership takes staff time after approval. Budget for updates and preparation for revalidation.

Before joining the program, an occasional cross-border shipper should confirm whether customers require or prefer PIP-approved providers and which shipments would qualify for benefits. A carrier that regularly crosses the border can assess whether the benefits justify the costs based on its routes and delivery commitments.

Preparing for PIP Membership With MAZE Consultancy & Training

At MAZE Consultancy & Training, we help companies assess their readiness for PIP membership and work through the requirements that apply to their operations. That includes organizing the information needed for an application and clarifying who controls freight when several businesses handle it.

We also help companies prepare for validation and offer external audits to review procedures and identify gaps.

CBSA decides whether to approve membership.

Contact MAZE Consultancy & Training with a brief description of where your freight is handled and whether you’re preparing your first application or approaching revalidation.

Frequently Asked Questions