published September 2007

My home is Ontario Canada.  There are some challenges that need to be addressed when importing goods into Canada from the U.S. Here is an article I have found that may be helpful for Canadian marketers.

All You Need to Know about Importing from the USA to Canada

The first thing to consider when importing goods is how you are going to get them into Canada. Your have a few options, starting with bringing the good in yourself.

In simple terms the steps you need to take are: declare the goods as you cross the border, wait for the goods to be released by customs, find out how much duties and taxes you must pay, and finally you need to pay the duties and taxes in the allotted time.

However, importing is a complicated topic. Canadian customs has over 30 different type of legislation is in place regarding importing and exporting good in Canada. Not all these are easily accessible and many are hard to understand.

"Over 20% of the products imported into Canada have some type of special rules. These include food products, automobiles, guns, appliances, explosives, lumber, electrical motors, to name a few," said Larry Hahn, Director Regulatory Affairs Livingston International Inc.

Hahn recommends that importers check with customs or a customs broker to see if any special licenses, certificates or other requirements apply to your products before you import them.

Jackson Wood from E-customs strongly recommends using a customs broker.

"There's no easy way to list all the steps that must be taken," said Wood. "Using a broker allows the importer to focus on more important issues, like growing their customer base or dealing with internal organization."

If you ship through a large company like the United Postal Service (UPS) or FedEx they will automatically take care of duties, taxes and levy a brokerage fee payable upon delivery. Smaller and lesser known brokers can also assist you; you can locate them through the Canadian Society of Customs Brokers website.

Importing Fees

While duties and taxes you will pay are fixed, the cost of brokerage fees can vary.

Many factors are at play in determining the amount of brokerage fees to be paid. Some of these may include: value of the goods, amount of duties and taxes, volume of the goods and the amount of transactions.

"Custom brokerage fees, are based on considerations such as volume and value of the goods imported into Canada," said Richard Bourque, Vice-President and General Manager , International Freight � Ontario, Schenker of Canada Limited.

"The rates for goods entering Canada vary depending on the commodity, and Duty and GST is calculated based on the value for duty (CDN Dollars). The shipper would only affect the duty rate if the goods are from certain countries where preferential tariff agents are in effect," said Neil Ferrey, ICECORP Logistics / ICECORP Customs Brokers.

The best way to get a good estimate of the cost is to contact the Canada Border Service Agency or a fully licensed Canadian Custom Broker.

All major customs brokers such as UPS and FedEx offer online shipping calculators, which will allow you to estimate the cost of importing.

One other thing to keep in mind is if the product you are importing qualifies for NAFTA you may be able to reduce the duties and taxes you are paying.

"Goods from the US may be eligible for entry into Canada under the terms of NAFTA and be entitled to a free or reduced rate of duty," said Michelle Criger from the Canadian Society of Customs Brokers (CSCB). "If the goods qualify for NAFTA, and are valued at $1600.00 CDN or more, the exporter must provide a formal NAFTA Certificate of origin. For goods valued at less than $1600.00 CDN, an informal statement regarding NAFTA eligibility can be provided."