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. On May 2, 2020, the Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) posted Customs Notice 20-18 “Implementation of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement …

In a recent ruling on February 24, 2020, the Canadian Federal Court determined in the decision of Tamba Thomas and Minister for Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness (MPSEP), 2020 FC 290 [Thomas v. MPSEP] that diamonds being imported into Canada must be imported in accordance with Canada’s Import and Export of Rough Diamonds Act, Import and Export of Rough Diamonds Regulations, and accordingly with Canada’s obligations as a participant of the Kimberly Process. The…

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 working from home, which means the control over information is diminished or, quite frankly, non-existent.  While there are hundreds of…

As of June 30, 2020, Canadian exporters will no longer be able to file paper copies of the  B13A Export Declaration Form or use the CAED system to report exports of commercial goods. Canada’s export reporting will be paperless. Exporters and customs service providers must be prepared and ready as of June 30, 2020 to report exports of commercial goods using one of two electronic methods: 1) Canadian Export Reporting System (CERS) – which is…

Most Canadian export controls and controlled goods compliance programs are built with the assumption that relevant employees who have access to controlled goods and technical data will be working in an on-site work environment and use work computers and in-house servers where information is securely stored with access and release restrictions and where work-related activities are carefully reviewed and watched.  The current COVID-19 situation where most employees are working remotely from home was not contemplated…

We now know the dated that the Canada-United States- Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) (or USMCA under US terminology) will enter into effect to replace the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA): July 1, 2020.  This does not mean that the governments are ready to enforce CUSMA – Canada, United States and Mexico must now negotiate and publish Uniform Regulations (that is, harmonized regulations relating to customs matters).  There will be new  regulatory changes that will be…

On April 16, 2020, the Government of Canada issued Notice to Exporters Serial 992 “Notice to Exporters – Export of items listed on the Export Control List to Turkey” in which Canada announced that it will presumptively deny any new export permit application with respect to military goods on the Export Control List where the destination is Turkey.  On October 19, 2019, the Government of Canada announced a temporary suspension in the issuance of export…