Please see the following as published by my law firm, MSK, on March 20, 2020: As part of our ongoing series in keeping our clients and friends abreast of various changes to policies and laws resulting from COVID-19, please find the latest updates below. Families First New sick and family leave policies become law in response to coronavirus. Read more… Big Apple, Small Business New York City’s Mayor announces two programs specifically geared towards…

Please see the following as published by my law firm, MSK, on March 18, 2020. The following contains articles written by me and my colleagues at my firm. As the COVID-19 crisis rapidly evolves, the health and safety of our employees, clients and our communities remain our highest priority. We wanted to share with you what we are doing as a firm. We have instructed attorneys and staff in all of our offices to…

In normal times, the Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) conducts verifications (audits) of importers to ensure that they are in compliance with Canadian customs laws (e.g., origin, tariff classification, valuation, etc.).  On March 26, 2020, we received the following notification from a CBSA Trade Compliance Officer with whom we are engaged on a file: “Due to the impact that COVID-19 is having on individuals and businesses, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) will temporarily suspend…

In response to COVID-19, the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General announced  an important procedural change for serving documents in relation to civic proceedings to the Crown and Crown-related entities. The Ontario Attorney General announced that documents for civil (non-criminal) proceedings, administrative proceedings or intended proceedings must be served by e-mail starting on March 24, 2020. This procedural change is ordered by an emergency order issued under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act.   Who…

On March 16, 2020, the Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) issued Customs Notice 20-08 “Imported Goods for Emergency Use in Response to COVID-19”, which discusses the circumstances where customs duty and goods and services tax (“GST”) /harmonized sales tax (“HST”) and excise tax relief will be granted for goods imported into Canada that will be used in the fight of COVID-19. The relief is granted regardless of origin of the Emergency Goods. Customs Notice…

On March 18, 2020, the Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) issued Customs Notice 20-09 “Changes in Requesting an Extension to the 90-day Period to Submit Corrections” in which the deadline for filing corrections is automatically extended by 30 days. Normally, when the CBSA issues a final report to an importer under audit (called a “trade compliance verification” in Canadian customs language), the importer normally is given only 90 days to make the corrections requested by…

On March 19, 2020, the Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) released Customs Notice 20-10 “Waiver of Late accounting Penalties”  granting relief during the COVID-19 crisis.  The notice provides that certain late fees (also known as administrative monetary penalties (“AMPs”)) and late accounting penalties are being waived for transactions released between March 11, 2020, to May 14, 2020, inclusively.  It is important to get commercial goods across the border and truckers/carriers are not going to…