Is your import company going to be audited by the Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) in 2016? It is hard to predict whether you will be the lucky person to host the CBSA at your business. The chances increase exponentially if you import one of the goods that the CBSA has listed as a priority. In January 2016, the CBSA listed its priorities for verifications. We have been seeing increased random verifications of importers of the priority goods.
The listed tariff classification trade compliance priorities are:
- tubes, pipes and hoses
- parts of lamps
- pasta
- hair dryers
- electric smoldering irons
- curling irons
- spectacle lenses
- furniture for non-domestic purposes
- palm oil
- safety headgear
- seaweed
- dextrins and other modified starches
- disposable and protective gloves
- wheel rims and spokes
- coconut milk from Asian countries
- batteries
- gazebos
- apparel samples
- bags of polymers and ethylene
- footwear ($30 or more per pair)
- hair extensions
- machinery for public works
- sacks and bags under tariff item 9903.00
- special purpose motor vehicles
- polyurethanes in primary forms
- parts for power trains
- generating sets
- geophysical and oceanographic instruments
- cereals
- articles of apparel and clothing accessories
- bicycles parts
- articles of plastic
- articles of iron and steel
- vices and clamps
- parts for use with machinery (Chapter 84)
- chemical products
The listed valuation trade compliance priorities are:
- apparel
- footwear
- preparations and pastrycook’s products
The listed origin trade compliance priorities are:
- t-shirts
- jewelry
If you import any of these goods or think the CBSA may think your goods are included in the above lists, you should conduct an internal review and potentially make a voluntary disclosure before the CBSA selects you for a trade compliance verification.
In July 2015, the CBSA’s verification priorities were:
- pickled vegetables
- curling irons
- spectacle lenses
- furniture for non-domestic purposes
- palm oil
- safety headgear
- seaweed
- dextrins and other modified starches
- disposable and protective gloves
- wheel rims and spokes
- coconut milk from Asian countries
- batteries
- gazebos
- apparel samples
- bags of polymers and ethylene
- footwear ($30 or more per pair)
- hair extensions
- machinery for public works
- sacks and bags under tariff item 9903.00
- special purpose motor vehicles
- polyurethanes in primary forms
- parts for power trains
- generating sets
- geophysical and oceanographic instruments
- cereals
- articles of apparel and clothing accessories
- bicycles parts
- articles of plastic
- articles of iron and steel
- vices and clamps
- parts for use with machinery (Chapter 84)
The listed valuation trade compliance priorities are:
- apparel
- footwear
- preparations and pastrycook’s products
The listed origin trade compliance priorities are:
- t-shirts
- jewelry
Many of these goods are repeated in the 2016 list of priorities. This means that the CBSA has found errors when conducting verifications of other importers. If you haven’t been visited already, you may be visited next.