facts and magnifying glassOn June 30, 2016, Global Affairs Minister Dion released the “Annual Report for the Year 2015: Annual Report to Parliament on the Administration of the Export and Import Permits Act” and the “Annual Report for the Year 2014: Annual Report to Parliament on the Administration of the Export and Import Permits Act” These documents are full of interesting information for export controls lawyers/consultants and Canadian businesses.

The Reports are submitted pursuant to section 27 of the Export and Import Permits Act, which provides that:

“As soon as practicable after December 31 of each year, the Minister shall prepare and lay before Parliament a report of the operations under this Act for that year.”

The Reports are a great read (maybe somewhat dry) of the state of Canada’s import and export controls. We get a general idea of what are the import and export activities of Canadian businesses (at least the import and export activities of the businesses that are watched more closely).

The Reports are organized as follows:

  • Import Controls;
  • Textiles and Clothing;
  • Agricultural and Dairy;
  • Steel;
  • Weapons, Munitions and Chemicals;
  • Export Controls;
  • Strategic, dual-use military and atomic energy goods, materials and technology as well as items controlled for non-proliferation purposes;
  • Any goods or technology to countries on the Area Control List;
  • Miscellaneous goods and technology, where applicable, including logs, softwood lumber, cedar bolts and blocks, peanut butter, sugar, sugar-containing products and products of US origin; and
  • Textiles and Clothing.

Some of the facts and figures contained in the Reports are very interesting. I will summarize below the statistics that I found interesting/illuminating:

2015 Annual Report

  • In 2015, Global Affairs Canada and its predecessor DFATD issued 48,155 import permits relating to controlled goods.
  • In 2015, Global Affairs Canada and its predecessor DFATD rejected 4,776 import permits.
  • In 2015, Global Affairs Canada and its predecessor DFATD cancelled 2,992 import permits (however, most of the cancellations related to amendments to permit details rather than non-compliance with the terms of the permits).
  • In 2015, Global Affairs Canada and its predecessor DFATD issued 2,307 international import certificate letters and 581 delivery verification letters.
  • In 2015, Global Affairs Canada and its predecessor DFATD issued 241,451 export permits relating to non-strategic exports (softwood lumber, logs, clothing and textiles, and agricultural products).
  • In 2015, Global Affairs Canada and its predecessor DFATD issued 6,287 export permits relating to military, dual-use and strategic goods (with 383 returned without action, 384 withdrawn and 8 denied).
  • In 2015, the majority of strategic export permits were issued for munitions (3,391) and dual-use goods (2,202) and goods and technology (187).
  • The top 12 destinations for strategic goods are the United Kingdom (12.1%), Germany (6.8%), France (6.5%), China (5.2%), Israel (3.8%), Japan (3.76%), South Korea (3.5%), Australia (3.33%), the United States (3.32%), South Africa (3.2%), India (2.2%) and Switzerland (1.8%).
  • In 2015, 127 permits were issued for shipments of goods to Belarus and 5 permits were issued for shipments of goods to North Korea.
  • In 2015, the Export Controls Division responded to 14 formal requests for investigation support relating to export control enforcement actions.
  • In 2015, the Canada Border Service Agency referred 237 detentions to Global Affairs Canada/DFATD.
  • In 2015, the Export Controls Division received 37 voluntary disclosures of possible export controls violations from Canadian exporters.
  • In 2015, approximately 100-140 verification exercises were undertaken.

2014 Annual Report

  • In 2014, DFATD issued 54,163 import permits relating to controlled goods.
  • In 2014, DFATD rejected 5,717 import permits.
  • In 2014, DFATD cancelled 3,258 import permits (however, most of the cancellations related to amendments to permit details rather than non-compliance with the terms of the permits).
  • In 2014, DFATD issued 2,555 international import certificate letters and 496 delivery verification letters.
  • In 2014, DFATD issued 228,212 export permits relating to non-strategic exports (softwood lumber, logs, clothing and textiles, and agricultural products).
  • In 2014, DFATD issued 6,173 export permits relating to military, dual-use and strategic goods (with 354 returned without action, 489 withdrawn and 14 denied).
  • In 2014, the majority of strategic export permits were issued for munitions (3,406) and dual-use goods (2,131) and goods and technology (233).
  • The top 12 destinations for strategic goods are the United Kingdom (11.8%), Germany (7.2%), France (6.5%), China (5.0%), South Africa (4.7%), Australia (3.8%), United States (3.7%), South Korea (3.6%), Japan (3.5%), Israel (2.9%), Switzerland (2.2%) and Italy (2.0%).
  • In 2014, 40 permits were issued for shipments of goods to Belarus and 1 permit was issued for shipments of goods to North Korea.
  • In 2014, the Export Controls Division responded to 26 formal requests for investigation support relating to export control enforcement actions.
  • In 2014, the Canada Border Service Agency referred 182 detentions to Global Affairs Canada/DFATD.
  • In 2014, the Export Controls Division received 41 voluntary disclosures of possible export export controls violations from Canadian exporters.
  • In 2014, approximately 100-140 verification exercises were undertaken.

For more information, please contact Cyndee Todgham Cherniak at 416-307-4168 or at cyndee@lexsage.com. Alternatively, visit www.lexsage.com.