A long-awaited pre-clearance agreement between the U.S. and Canada has been signed today, promising faster, more efficient cross-border travel for tourism and commerce in the Pacific Northwest.

The Pacific NorthWest Economic Region commends both countries' commitment to expedite border crossings and will continue to work toward the agreement's successful implementation.

"This is very significant to the Pacific Northwest, and we have waited for this global agreement for quite some time," said Matt Morrison, Executive Director of the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region.

"We look forward to continuing to work with our federal partners and Congressional leaders so that this agreement can be fully implemented, especially for our cruise passengers, the Amtrak Cascades Passenger Rail, and our ferry services between Washington and British Columbia."

PNWER formed a  'Pre-Clearance Implementation Task Force' at its Economic Leadership Forum in November in Seattle.  This task force is made up of key businesses in the Pacfic Northwest who operate common carrier service between the US and Canada, as well as the cruise industry.

According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the agreement will:

• Allow for the consideration of requests for new preclearance locations across all modes;

• Enable exploration of co-location at small and remote ports, if desired;

• Provide updates to the Air Preclearance Agreement to better reflect the post 9/11 operating environment, including policies and tools utilized at domestic ports of entry;

• Enable Canada to request that the United States regularize existing U.S. immigration pre-inspection sites - for example at cruise, rail and ferry terminals in British Columbia;

• Enhance authorities for preclearance officers including the ability to carry firearms, defensive tools, and restraint devices to the same extent that Host Party officers are permitted to carry in the relevant operating environments;

• Address officer privileges and immunities through a shared jurisdictional framework in which the sending country may generally exercise primary criminal jurisdiction for acts committed by its officers in the performance of official duties in the Host country;  and

• Retain the civil and administrative prosecutorial jurisdictions for preclearance officers provided for in the current Air Preclearance Agreement.

Given the groundbreaking nature of the agreement, the United States and Canada must enact legislation for it to be implemented.  The PNWER Border Working group will be addressing the pre-clearance issue during our upcoming 25th Annual Summit in Big Sky,Montana.

We will take a careful look at how to develop regional support for areas of the agreement that still need to be finalized before implementation.

PNWER's Border working group had been instrumental in providing regional input for the Beyond the Border Action Plan as well as the U.S.-Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) Joint Forward Plan, which are cornerstones of North America's economic competitiveness and security strategy. The joint action plans are designed to simplify the process for each country's citizens to travel and do business across the border.

Press release from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Press release from the Canadian Government