The Canadian Food Inspection Agency created a new webpage to help importers and customs brokers "to understand a reject message for imports declared through the Integrated Import Declaration (IID) system," the CFIA said in an email. The new webpage provides examples and descriptions of reject messages for CFIA-regulated imports.
A top U.S. Department of Agriculture official, state officials and more than 40 representatives from the U.S. agriculture industry will travel to Canada in September to try to “expand sales” for U.S. agricultural exporters, the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service said in an Aug. 30 press release. Ted McKinney, USDA’s undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs, will travel with several state agriculture officials and 41 industry representatives on what USDA is calling a “trade mission.”
Argentina recently established a “special temporary import regime” for used goods “intended for exploration, exploitation and perforation activities by the hydrocarbon industry,” according to an Aug. 29 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. Certain imports under this regime will face an import duty that is “0.5 to 1.0 percentage points higher for each year of age than the applicable [Most Favored Nation] import duty for new goods,” the report said. Other goods are subject to duty-free treatment, the report said. Companies must be registered in the “registry of oil companies” or act as a supplier for a registered entity, the HKTDC said. The temporary tariff regime will remain in effect until Dec. 31, 2020.
Mexico is again allowing more time for importers to comply with new certificate of compliance requirements for some Mexican product standards at the time of entry, the Latin American Confederation of Customs Brokers said in a recent circular. For the second time, an additional 15 days have been added to a grace period that now ends Sept. 10 for importers to obtain a certificate of compliance from a recognized certification body. Until the time period expires, importers that have not yet obtained the certificate may continue their current operations unchanged, as long as they submitted their request to the certification body by June 30 and include a receipt number for the request in their entry documentation. As part of this extension, Mexico announced that it will conduct a review as to why certification bodies have not processed pending requests for certificates, the circular said.
The Department of Homeland Security signed a letter of intent with El Salvador to increase cooperation in several areas, including trade, according to a copy of the letter obtained by PBS and an Aug. 28 DHS press release. The U.S. plans to work with El Salvador to reduce “non-tariff trade barriers to promote foreign direct investment, trade facilitation, and customs enhancement,” the letter said.
Canada’s accession to the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty requires “significant amendments” to the country’s Export and Import Permits Act that will broaden its current export control regime, according to an August post from the McMillan law firm.
Canada's import controls apply to all milk protein substances (MPS) with a milk protein content of 85% or more of dry matter weight if the imports don't qualify for a trade, Global Affairs Canada said in an Aug. 28 message to industry. "If a product does not qualify as originating under the concerned trade agreement, or if transhipment requirements are not satisfied, an import permit is required," the agency said. MPS imports from a NAFTA country, an EU country or other EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement beneficiary, Chile, Costa Rica or Israel "are exempted from Canada's import permit requirements for MPS," GAC said.
Costa Rica published forms and instructions online for registering certain people and entities for value-added tax purposes, KPMG said in an Aug. 21 post. The form applies to exporters, exporter suppliers, and marketers, distributors and producers of food, among others, KPMG said.
The Canada Border Services Agency on Aug. 26 updated Memorandum D11-11-1 on national customs rulings. The update includes information on new procedures for processing ruling requests by email between the applicant or their agent and the CBSA. “The CBSA encourages the exchange of information by email with the applicant,” starts the new section on email communication. The updated memo also includes new policies on a five-year disposal and retention period for CBSA to retain records of ruling requests. Finally, the update includes new circumstances when a ruling will not be issued and the request rejected, including when supplementary information was requested but not provided within 30 days or the request does meet the requirements listed in the memorandum.