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Act Now to Renew Your NAFTA Blanket Certificates for 2010
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As 2010 rapidly approaches, we'd like to remind you that 2009 NAFTA "blanket" certificates will soon expire. Providing us with NAFTA information for the coming year prior to December 31st will ensure that you continue receiving uninterrupted benefit from NAFTA at the turn of the year.
Under the terms of the NAFTA, importers are required to have a valid Certificate of Origin in their possession at the time free trade tariff treatment is being claimed. Failure to comply with this obligation could result in significant penalties under the Customs AMPS program.
If you require assistance obtaining NAFTA certificates please don't hesitate to contact your Account Manager to discuss ways in which GHY can help.
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Changes in Processing U.S. Meat Shipments at the Border
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The CBSA has advised that as of January 4, 2010, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) will discontinue the practice of providing advance notification of inspection of US meat imports. This change in procedure is in line with the Government of Canada Food Safety Action Plan. Canada has full confidence in the safety of food imported from the USA. This change will make Canada's food safety system stronger and will move Canada a step closer to full harmonization with US meat import controls
All meat shipments from the USA are inspected and certified by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) authorities prior to exportation to Canada. Importers/Brokers can submit their import requests to the CFIA Import Service Centres (ISC) for documentation review up to 72 hours in advance of the actual shipment arrival. This procedure will continue to apply.
Starting January 4, 2010, when a meat shipment is presented for electronic release, the CFIA Import Service Centre (ISC) will transmit a message to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) indicating if the shipment has been selected for an inland CFIA inspection. If the shipment is identified as a "skip lot" it will be allowed to proceed to its manifested destination. Additional details on the new policy as it pertains to meat shipments that are presented on a paper release can be found here.
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Canada & Israel to Begin Negotiations on a MRA for Telecom Equipment
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Industry Minister Tony Clement announced this week an agreement with Israel to begin negotiations on a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) to facilitate the importing and exporting of telecommunications equipment. The announcement followed discussions between Clement and his Israeli counterpart Binyamin Ben-Eliezer.
"An MRA will broaden trade opportunities for Canada's telecom-munications industry and provide access to Israel's latest communications technology for Canadian industry and consumers," said Clement.
MRAs facilitate trade by streamlining the conformity assessment procedures for a wide range of telecom-munications equipment. An MRA would allow Canada and Israel to accept each other's test results and, eventually, certificates of compliance.
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GHY E-Newsletter Issue #4 November · 2009
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GHY Shipments Web
Get The Critical Information You Need in Real Time...
In today's globally integrated trade environments, Canadian businesses are confronted with challenges on many different fronts; one of the most overwhelming can be the sheer volume of diverse information required for effective Supply Chain Management. While governments deploy various initiatives to help ensure a more secure and compliant supply chain, unfortunately they provide little help to importers to mange the volume of information involved.
To meet this need and provide Canadian importers with a solution to help address the problem of managing their customs information, GHY is re-introducing the new and improved version of our Shipments Web tool. Shipments Web is a compliance and supply chain tool that integrates current (live) and historical shipment data. Through a secure, password-protected interface, Canadian importers can now have access to their data at any time, 7/24/365.
To aid in compliance management and reporting, Shipments Web includes a variety of preset template reports while also giving importers the flexibility to create their own report results by filtering data to evaluate logistic trends. Results can then be exported into .pdf or .xls file formats.
Report examples include:
· Free Trade Gain Detail - lists all commodities and financial duty benefits of sourcing using Free Trade.
· Database reports - a variety of tools that enable item activity detail or aggregate reports assisting in monitoring compliance focus, ordering trends, etc.
Other features include:
· One button search for all shipments falling into the categories of Released, Not Released, High Value (>$1600 CDN), and Low Value
· Sort and select your shipments by any field in the browser
· Create your own query to filter your shipments
· Check the Event Log
· View, print, or download Billing Invoices, Statements, CCIs, B3s, and Reports
GHY's Website provides an introductory How To tour. Clients wishing more detailed demonstrations may also contact their Account Manager or Al Dewar dewar@ghy.com (VP, Cdn Ops) or Nigel Fortlage nigel@ghy.com (VP, IT).
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Harper Government Strengthens Trade Links with India
Responding to calls last year from business executives from both Canada and India to undertake free trade talks, earlier this week the two countries signed agreements to enhance cooperation in energy and examine a free trade pact to boost economic ties.
 The new accords were signed following talks between Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh in New Delhi. The two leaders said they hope to increase bilateral trade to $15 billion a year within the next five years from about $5 billion now.
Harper's efforts to strengthen economic ties with India are a recognition of India's rising importance as one of the world's fast-growing economies. "The South Asian tiger has awoken and the world is standing in awe," he told an audience of Indian business investors at a hotel in Mumbai earlier in the week.
The Canadian Council of Chief Executives praised the decision to move forward. "Today's establishment of the Joint Study Group sends a clear signal that our two countries are committed to an ambitious agenda of economic co-operation," said CCCE chief Thomas D'Aquino
Peter Sutherland, a former Canadian high commissioner in India and deputy vice-chair of the Canada-India Business Council, says any step in the direction of a free trade agreement is progress, and that it underscores the interest and resolve of both governments to expand bilateral trade and investment.
"The point to make here is that government has been doing these things to create the kind of environment in which business can take the initiative. So now, in my view, it is up to business to take the initiative. The framework has been laid, the tools are being negotiated by the government, and now it's up to the actual business enterprises to take the initiative," he said.
The government statement said the study group would hold its first meeting in December, and formal negotiations may begin by mid-2010.
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CBP Outlines Policy on Enforcement of
"10 + 2" Importer Security Filing Rule
"Not about penalties" or "nitpicking" says official
At a recently held meeting of the Commercial Operations Advisory Committee, Assistant Commissioner Thomas Winkowski told the group that U.S. Customs and Border Protection will "take a common sense approach" to imposing penalties for violating the 10+2 importer security filing rule once the current period of informed compliance ends January 26, 2010. Winkowski assured the trade community that CBP's focus will be more on aiding compliance with the rule than penalizing minor violations and stated that as a result all ISF penalties will first be reviewed at CBP headquarters.
 Under the ISF rule, importers and maritime cargo carriers must submit additional cargo data to CBP before vessels are permitted entry into the country. Importers have to report 10 data elements on each ISF, including information that identifies the manufacturer, supplier, seller, buyer and consignee; the country of origin and tariff classification number; where and by whom the goods were stuffed into the container; and the party responsible for compliance with applicable import requirements. Five data elements are required for shipments consisting entirely of freight remaining on board cargo or goods intended to be transported in-bond as an immediate entry or transportation and exportation entry, including who is paying for the transportation of the goods and where the goods are headed. CBP's goal is to have all data elements filed 24 hours prior to lading, but it has allowed for some flexibility either in timing or interpretation for six of the data elements.
The ISF rule took effect January 26, 2009, but full enforcement will not take effect until January 26, 2010, following a year of education, outreach and informed compliance efforts. As of that date, importers will be subject to fines of $5,000 each time an ISF filing is late or inaccurate. At the COAC meeting, however, Winkowski said "it's not about penalties" or "nitpicking" for CBP, which will seek to avoid levying penalties for minor ISF filing mistakes and instead continue efforts to inform filers of the rule's requirements. Those efforts have thus far included the issuance of ISF penalty mitigation guidelines and the posting of a list of answers to frequently asked questions on the CBP Web site, and Winkowski said enforcement guidelines are also being developed.
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The "Buy American" Double Standard
Manufacturers losing faith in a negotiated exemption
Many Canadian producers that have traditionally relied on open access to the American market are becoming increasingly frustrated at what they perceive to be a protectionist double-standard. While Canadian firms are prevented from bidding on highly valuable urban renewal projects south of the border owing to "Buy American" provisions in the U.S. Recovery Act, American companies are free to sell their products in Canada without any problem at all.
John Hayward, who runs an industrial equipment plant in Halton Hills, said U.S. President Barack Obama talks a good game about the importance of free trade "but the actions just aren't matching up with the words.
"For American companies to be doing so much business in our market and blocking Canadian access to theirs, and then turning around and beating out the same Canadian companies in Canada, is just intolerable. Either we are open trading partners or we're not," said Hayward.
According to a new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), the agreement now being negotiated by the Harper government and the Obama administration would leave Buy American policies intact while permanently binding Canadian provincial and municipal governments under World Trade Organization (WTO) government procurement rules which could prevent them from preferring local goods or suppliers.
"This is not a loss that should be taken lightly," says CCPA trade researcher Scott Sinclair. "Preferential government purchasing is an important policy tool in Canada. For example, contracting policies that give preference to Canadian suppliers, buy-local food policies, centralized purchasing of pharmaceuticals, and many other beneficial procurement policies would be at risk under this deal."
Even if Canada fully signed on to the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement, Canadian suppliers would remain excluded from the bulk of U.S. sub-federal, stimulus funded projects. Such a deal would, however, permanently bind Canadian provincial and local governments under WTO rules, severely curtailing their use of government procurement as a policy tool.
"The real question is why would Canada agree to such an unbalanced deal?" Sinclair asks. "There is virtually no chance that Washington will agree either to scrap the Buy American rules or to exempt Canadian suppliers from them."
Instead, the report suggests our governments emulate what is best in the U.S. purchasing policies and employ them to benefit Canadians.
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 Finding time to follow the latest international trade
developments and programs of Customs agencies on both sides of the border
relevant to your business can be challenging, so we hope you find this
issue of our Tradelines e-newsletter to be a helpful resource in this respect. As
always, we'd greatly appreciate any opinions, comments and suggestions you may
have to help us improve this information resource, so please don't hesitate to
let us know what you think.
If you haven't already, we'd like to take this opportunity to invite you to
check out our Tradelines E-News weblog where you can
find current stories updated daily about business events and developments that
are important to Canadian importers and exporters. Sign up for our RSS feed and
get automatic updates to your favourite reader as soon as they're posted. As well, you can now follow GHY on Twitter for the latest information, updates and links to articles of interest.
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