OTTAWA — Ron Flowers, regional director of Canadian Border Services Agency, (CBSA) says the changes that are coming this month to the Partners in Protection program (PIP) are the biggest he’s seen in five years.

The new security requirements go into effect June 30.

Flowers made his comments to a recent "Driving for Profit" seminar in Windsor, Ont.

PIP is the Canadian response to the seven-year-old anti-terrorism initiative known as the Customs-Trade Partnership against Terrorism (C-TPAT.), which allows American customs to designate a participating company as low-risk and therefore less likely to be examined at border crossings.

Flowers, a former Mountie, says that the goal is to ensure the supply chain is secure from one end to the other.

Participating fleets, he said, will be eligible for mutual recognition by both programs. And they will face audits he said, with possible suspension from the program.

“Some of the companies will be suspended until they improve their safety, ” Flowers said. That could take from six to nine months.

Among many aspects of your operation, Flowers said the tightened guidelines will affect hiring processes because an entire company could lose its PIP privileges if one driver is found to be involved in an illegal activity.

The new criteria, according to Flowers, will include more thorough reporting of the company directors’ backgrounds; mandatory key control, mandatory emergency communication systems; monitored yard traffic, and more closely monitored office traffic.

"We’re going to want to know if you know who’s visiting your property. If I can get in by signing ‘Ben Dover,’ that’s not very good."