The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA or USMCA) will introduce new and complex requirements for the automotive industry.  Not only will vehicle producers face increased Regional Value Content requirements starting July 1, 2020, but they will be required to meet the following requirements:

  1. minimum purchase requirements for North American steel and aluminum;
  2. labour value content requirements

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

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

On March 30, 2020, the Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) published Customs Notice 20-12 “COVID-19: Tariff Classification and Other Information to Import Medical Supplies”. This is welcomed and I for one am very proud of the CBSA for releasing this information – THANK YOU!

In this extremely helpful Customs Notice, the CBSA provides their

Direct sellers (also known as network sellers) enter the lucrative Canadian market, often without asking questions about whether there are any Canadian laws they should know about. Canadians sign up as independent sales contractors and start to build their sales networks before all questions are asked and answers are received about compliance with Canadian laws. 

The Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) has released its H2 2019 customs verification priories.  The valuation verification (also known as an audit) targets are apparel and footwear.  This is the third round of audit targeting for apparel and the second round of audit targeting for footwear.  If you import the items, you should expect

On June 7, 2019, Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) confirmed in Chen v. Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, 2019 FCA 170, that the Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) cannot seize goods that were imported more than 6 years ago (even if the duties were not paid). In Chen, the

On May 30, 2018, Canada’s Minister of Finance announced new marking rules for steel and aluminum products.  In a News Release entitled “Canada Bolsters Prevention of Transshipment and Diversion of Steel and Aluminum Products Through Country of Origin Marking Regime“, the Department of Finance announced that Canada was aligning its marking rules with

Are Canadians, residents of Canada and visitors to Canada required to report prescription medications to the Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”)? The answer appears to be “YES”. The CBSA takes the position that you must declare all legally prescribed medications to them upon your return to or entry into Canada.  I am not kidding.  I