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Trade Lawyers Cyndee Todgham Cherniak and Susan K. Ross

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By: LexSage

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Heather Innes
Su Ross
Cyndee Todgham Cherniak
Anumeet Toor
Windsor Law, University of Windsor

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Originally published by the Journal of Commerce in February 2021 As we move into the new year and things start to settle into more of a routine, one issue that simply will not go away is port congestion. There are lots of reasons for the current mess. Just as it took a long time for things to get this bad, there are no quick fixes. When the topic of port congestion comes up, everyone has…
We have seen cases where the Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) has taken away a Canadian citizen’s NEXUS card due to non-essential travel by the individual. In particular, where the Canadian citizen traveled by car to the United States for what the CBSA determined to be non-essential reasons, the CBSA officer at the land border crossing confiscated the person’s NEXUS card and the NEXUS membership was subsequently cancelled.  In both cases that we have recently…
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        CUSMA/USMCA will come into force on July 1, 2020, at which time increased and more complex Regional Value Content (RVC) requirements for both vehicles and automotive parts will be effective.  The RVC for passenger vehicles and lights trucks will increase to 66% on July 1 and for heavy trucks, it will be 60%.  The chart below summarizes the transition of those requirements to their final RVC of 75% and 70%, respectively.…
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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: minimum purchase requirements for North American steel and aluminum; labour value content requirements that at lease a certain portion of each vehicle be produced using high-wage labour (US $16/C $20.88 average wage rate);…
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 their respective ratification processes.  This meant that the agreement could be implemented on July 1. The CUSMA Uniform Regulations containing…
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On May 20, 2020, Prince Edward Island’s Premier, Dennis King, announced that the province will begin the approval process for seasonal residents starting on June 1, 2020. In order to be approved, seasonal residents must show that they are the owners of the residence in P.E.I., and must also guarantee that they will self-isolate for 14 days. Members of the NEXUS program must be very cautious when entering P.E.I. as seasonal residents. The CBSA requires…
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 the suspension has been extended until further notice.  A CBSA Verification Officer wrote the following in an email: “The details…
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 effort to stem the transmission of COVID-19.  The 30-day period was thereafter extended to May 21, 2020. The restriction may…
The Canadian Minister of National Revenue (“Minister”) may, under subsection 231.2(3) of the Income Tax Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. 1 (5th Supp.) and subsection 289(3) of the Excise Tax Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. E-15, seek information from third parties in order to look for tax cheats. The request by the Minister is known as an “Unnamed Persons Requirement” or “UPR”.  An UPR is filed by the Minister (the Attorney General of Canada on behalf of…
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 does not extend the import prohibition to “goods manufactured by forced labour”. Under Canadian law, any goods can be imported…