As we wrote in a previous blog post, the Canada Revenue Agency (the “CRA”) has announced a “Coordinated Vaping Duty System” framework to manage the payment, collection, remittance and refund in respect of the additional vaping duty imposed under section 158.58 of the Excise Act.
Since the additional duty came into force on July 1, 2024, the CRA has released further guidance on the framework, including the use of vaping excise stamps and registration obligations within the vaping stamping regime.
When Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) Officers have reason to believe that the proper procedures have not been followed at the border on the import of goods (i.e., an item has been concealed for reporting, or an incorrect value or description has been provided), the Officer has the power to either seize the good and sometimes the conveyance (i.e., vehicle) used to transport it, or issue an ascertained forfeiture after the fact.
Both actions may come as a surprise to the importer — especially given that even minor contraventions of the law can lead to these significant seizures and actions, thereby requiring detailed and confusing appeal processes to remedy.
Georgian Bay Leisure Distributors Ltd., 2022 CanLII 139059 (CA CITT) (“Georgian Bay”)is a CITT case highlighting the complexities of tariff classification when importing goods to Canada.!
Background
When importing commercial goods to Canada, there are three things any importer needs to address from a customs compliance perspective:
As discussed here and here, Canada has one of the most protectionist agricultural product sectors in the world. Indeed, we have import restrictions and incredibly high tariffs on many basic groceries like cheese, eggs and poultry – all leading to fuel inflation in Canada today, and continuing disputes with countries like the US and New Zealand over our protectionist approach.
This affects consumer and commercial importers of these products, with our current government enforcing import restrictions through tariff rate quotas (“TRQs”).
