Canada's Federal Government

The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), also referred to as the United States-Canada-Mexico Agreement (USMCA), comes into effect on July 1, 2020.  Are you ready?

The full CUSMA Agreement was signed in November of 2018, and later amended in December 2019.  In April of this year each of the three parties notified that they had completed

On March 26, 2020, the Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) notified certain importers under verification that the CBSA was temporarily suspending trade compliance activities due to COVID-19 – see The CBSA Temporarily Suspends Trade Compliance Activities due to COVID-19.

On May 19, 2020, importers received an update from the CBSA informing external stakeholders that

Canada has indicated that the Canada-U.S. border will remain closed to non-essential travel until June 21, 2020.  “Non-essential” travel includes travel that is considered as tourism or recreational in nature.

The restrictions may be extended again.  On March 21, the restrictions on essential travel across the border were implemented for a 30-day period in an

It is unclear whether the import prohibition set out in the Customs Tariff for Tariff Code Item 9897 prohibits goods made in China’s detention camps.  Tariff Item 9897 prohibits the importation of a number of goods, including “[g]oods manufactured or produced wholly or in part by prison labour”.  Unlike the United States, Canada’s import prohibition

The Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) has created a new dedicated Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (“CUMSA”) web-page on which implementation information will be posted to assist importers and exporters. CUSMA / USMCA / NAFTA 2.0 is scheduled to enter into force on July 1, 2020 and there will be no transition period.  This means that importers

On May 6, 2020, the Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) published Customs Notice 20-19 to provide information for Certain Goods Remission Order (COVID-19), SOR-2020-101 (“Remission Order”) under the Customs Tariff.  In order to help the fight against COVID-19, the Remission Order allows for the relief of customs duty for eligible

With few exceptions, those importing food into Canada now or soon (July 15, 2020) will require an import license issued pursuant to the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations:

    • The Safe Food for Canadians Regulations issued pursuant to the Safe Food for Canadians Act (“SFCA”) came into force on January 15, 2019.
    • These

When it was announced that Canada, the United States and Mexico had reached an agreement to amend the North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”), one of the important changes was an increase to the de minimis threshold, which is the monetary value of courier shipments that can enter Canada without payment of duties and taxes.

Many Canadian import businesses have implemented remote working arrangements for employees as a result of COVID-19 government directives.  Social distancing in business organizations can give rise to costly mistakes because business is not as usual.  Importers have to adjust to the new normal and identify new (and existing) business risks.  Most employees and managers are