Canada Border Services Agency provided information regarding Canada United States Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), de minimis, and Courier Low Value Shipment Program (CLVS).
CUSMA
Under Article 7.8 of the CUSMA, the de minimis threshold for goods shipped to Canada has been raised to $40. Between $40 and $150, only tax will be collected. After $150, duty and tax apply. Regulatory amendments to the Courier Imports Remission Order and the Excise Tax Act will be made to accommodate these changes.
Article 7.8 also states that “there shall be fewer customs formalitiesâ€, or a streamlined process, for the release of goods valued at less than $3,300. Under the Courier Low Value Shipment program this amount is $2,500 and, once CUSMA is in place, the amount of $3,300 will apply to all goods, not just those shipped by courier.
CBSA further clarified Article 7.8 to mean that:
1. The de minimis applies to courier shipments only;
2. The de minimis applies to goods that are shipped from Mexico and the US only; and
3. For de minimis to apply, goods do not have to originate in Mexico or the US (but must have entered into the commerce of the US; transhipped goods don’t count).
Goods with a value under $1000 will not require a declaration of origin. For originating goods over that amount, the certification process will be less formal than that under the NAFTA and will be more in line with new trade agreements where a declaration can be noted on a invoice, with no need for a formal certificate.
The above will be implemented once CUSMA is in place.
CBSA will extend the de minimis amounts under the CUSMA to all shipments. This means that, as indicated in D8-2-16, it applies to all common commercial carriers, regardless of mode of transport, including freight forwarders and deconsolidators. It is not limited to couriers.
However, should the CUSMA not come into force, the de minimis threshold will remain at its current level for all shipments.
CLVS
CBSA also shared some very significant news – the CVLS program as we know it will end. In its place, there will be a program that is not limited to couriers and will allow goods valued at $3300 to be released with just a manifest. No details or time frame for this new program was provided, including the accounting process for these goods, but it is hoped that it will be implemented at the same time as the CUSMA.