The Canada Border Services Agency issued a memo on the customs excise duty procedures for cannabis edibles, extracts and topical products. The memo includes a list of proposed excise duty rates and an example of how the customs, federal excise and provincial excise are calculated. “All modifications will be active in the Customs Commercial System (CCS) beginning December 16, 2019,” the agency said.
The Canada Border Services Agency will relax a requirement that Free and Secure Trade (FAST) program members must first be part of the Customs Self Assessment, the agency said in a Dec. 9 customs notice. “Under the expansion of the FAST Membership criteria, the CBSA will extend FAST lane eligibility to highway carriers and importers who are sole members of the Partners in Protection (PIP) program,” it said. The agency will also use “two new notices that are generated pre-arrival to advise a carrier that a shipment is eligible or ineligible to use the FAST lane at the reporting port of entry,” it said. The change is effective on Dec. 9.
Brazil and Mexico recently announced antidumping actions on mainland Chinese products, according to a Dec. 5 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. Brazil renewed an amended version of ts antidumping duty on certain mainland Chinese loudspeakers to cover loudspeakers weighing more than 18 grams used in “motor vehicles,” the report said. The duties do not apply to “buzzer type loudspeakers” used on “automotive dashboards,” HKTDC said. The measure imposes a 78.3 percent antidumping duty for the next five years. Mexico began a sunset review of duty on Chinese steel cables, which are currently subject to a duty of “$2.58 per kilogramme,” the report said.
Argentina revoked its “non-preferential origin documentary requirements” for goods whose origin needs to be determined for statistical reasons, according to a Dec. 5 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. This includes certificates of origin requirements for certain textiles, apparel and footwear, the report said. Goods subject to antidumping, countervailing or safeguard measures and goods imported from countries that do not benefit from Most Favored Nation status remain subject to the non-preferential origin documentary requirements, HKTDC said. Argentina is rescinding the requirements “in light of the substantial advances made in the international trade arena in recent years,” the report said, which have caused the requirements to lead to “unnecessary delays and higher costs.”
The Canada Border Services Agency on Dec. 3 updated a memo on rail pre-arrival and reporting requirements to add information on direct delivery of consolidated freight, it said. The rail memo also now includes "details under carrier obligations, with regards to examination," it said. The agency also recently updated a memo on engine, vehicle, vessel and machine imports. That memo now has updated hyperlinks and contact information.