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USMCA ORIGIN: CERTIFICATION RULES

PLANNING FOR TRUMP TARIFFS

While US President Trump has instituted a pause on his tariffs implemented through executives orders on March 6 and April 2, 2025, many Canadian businesses may be unaware that this reprieve only extends to Canadian exports that qualify for preferential tariff treatment under the United States Mexico Canada Agreement (“USMCA”).  Accordingly, Canadian businesses need to place a premium on USMCA origin status. 

This is the second of a two-part series on how one can claim USMCA preferential tariff treatment and focusses on the "formal" requirements for doing so, once the substantive origin analysis has been completed.

No Forms Required:   Statements will Do;  Certificates Not Required!

Pursuant to Article 5.2 of the USMCA, there is no further need for the prescribed Certificate of Origin required under the former NAFTA.

In fact, the USMCA confirms that a certification of USMCA origin need not follow any particular format, and needs only to contains the set of minimum data elements set out in the USMCA (see Annex 5-A) that indicate that the good is both originating and meets the requirements of the USMCA. 

This means that a USMCA certification is permitted to be made on an invoice or any other document, so long as it describes the originating good in sufficient detail to enable its identification, and otherwise meets the "substantive" requirements for that status.

Best Practices

While not required under the rules of Chapter 5 of the USMCA, best practices, in our view, is to prepare a certificate not unlike the former NAFTA certificate, but modified for use under the USMCA, and including the required wording from Data Element 9 below.

Required Data Elements for USMCA Origin Certification

The nine (9) required data elements for certifying USMCA Origin are:

1. Whether the certifier is the importer, exporter or producer; 
2. The name, address, email and telephone number of the certifier;
3. The name, address, email and telephone number of the exporter (if different from the certifier);
4. The name, address, email and telephone number of the producer (if different from the certifier);
5. The name address, email and telephone number of the importer;
6. A description of the Subject Good sufficient to relate it to the good covered by the certification, together with HS tariff classification for the Subject Good to the subheading (i.e., 6-digit) level;
7. The origin criteria the Subject Good satisfies under Article 4.2 of the USMCA (see our prior Report here for a Discussion on this);
   
8. The blanket period to which the certification relates or the particular shipment to which it relates; and
9. The certifier’s dated authorized signature and the required certifying statement, in the exact words set out here.

For help with the USMCA origin process, click here.

Download a PDF copy of this Blog here.