Blog Posts

 

In today’s fast-paced and evolving global marketplace, countries are increasingly turning to free trade agreements (FTAs) to enrich their relationships with important trading partners.

 

 

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) assesses penalties based on level of culpability (degree of fault), which has three different designations. In decreasing order of magnitude, these are: fraud, gross negligence and negligence.

 

Importing and exporting commercial goods across the Canada-U.S. border can be a complex endeavour. Doing it right requires a solid understanding of and strict adherence to a litany of government regulations overseen by government agencies on both sides of the border. On the American side, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the gate-keeper.

So you’re being audited by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA)… Now what?

 

Anyone who ships items across the Canada-U.S. border should be aware that at some point they are likely to be targeted for a CBSA audit.

 

 

(Officially called a Trade Compliance Verification, we’ll continue to use the word “audit” in this blog since it’s a term that everyone is familiar with.)

 

 

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has been in place for over 20 years. It allows importers to benefit from duty free rates when goods are traded between Canada, Mexico and the United States. The agreement is somewhat convoluted though, and often companies do not fully understand the multi-layered complexities of Free Trade Agreements.

 

The U.S. Congress recently passed the American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act of 2016, which formalizes an administrative process for temporarily lowering duties on certain imported raw materials and finished goods. 

 

Under the revised Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB), importers will be able to petition for duty suspension or reduction for products they import that are not manufactured in the U.S.

 

When moving goods by common carrier, shippers expect to pay based on factors such as mode of transport, weight, volume and distance traveled. But even after these variables are accounted for, sometimes the total freight charges can be substantially higher.