Clearit.ca's Blog on Customs Brokerage and News Updates

The war in Ukraine is seriously impacting the trade and logistics of Ukraine and the Black Sea region, according to a new study released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The issues at a glance: Shipping costs are rising Fewer grain shipments over longer distances lead to higher freight rates and higher food prices Container shipping and global supply chains are also disrupted The search for alterna...

Shipping container fires are a growing concern for the marine shipping industry, which has reported 70 shipping container fires and counting over the past five years. According to the Allianz Risk Barometer, the risk of fire and explosions now ranks #3 on the list of top business risks in marine shipping at 25%, behind only business interruptions (42%) and natural catastrophes (33%). So what is causing all these fires? The culprit is typ...

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has concluded its normal value review to determine normal values and export prices applicable to certain carbon steel fasteners exported from Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu (Chinese Taipei) by Honor Best Co., Ltd. The review follows a request for re‑determination filed by an importer, and is part of the CBSA’s enforcement of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal’s (CITT) order issued on Sep...

Over the past few months, we’ve seen an increase in furniture costs, businesses being forced to jack up prices, and these are caused by a variety of issues. Not only are these prices soaring because the shipping and times are longer, but there’s also a shortage of supplies and higher material costs. All of these add up and that’s why we now see furniture prices soaring quite a bit recently. Importers and their business partners have been f...

News of the trucker vaccine mandate has reached far beyond the trade community. But as importers look to protect their bottom lines into 2022, we'll be taking a closer look at the food supply chain, along with predictions for what the future holds, post-trucker vaccine mandate. Prior to implementation, there were already concerns of what issues and restrictions might come about as a result of the mandate. The mandate, more specifically, is as fo...

Late last year, updates were made to the Canada-UK Trade Continuity Agreement (CUKTCA). Memorandum D11-5-18 was designed to provide more information about the Canada and UK trade continuity agreement. More specifically, the Administrator of the Government of Canada in Council, recommended by the Minister of Finance, added a CUKTCA set of Rules of Origin regulations. This is an important aspect that helps clarify how the trade community in Ca...

It comes as no surprise to Canadian importers that the Canadian supply chain is dealing with a lot of strain. Across the entire system, there is plenty of notable issues like congestion, which need to be solved as quickly as possible in order for the Canadian trade community to thrive. On top of this, costs are being raised across the board (in many cases even double than what they once were) which is important to keep in mind. And add to tha...

The federal government of Canada just enacted the Cross-border Movement of Hazardous Waste and Hazardous Recyclable Material Regulations in February 2021. This was established under the Environmental Violations Administrative Monetary Penalties Act, Canada Shipping Act, the Impact Assessment Act and the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.  What does this mean for Canadian importers? We'll take a closer look with the help of a McMillan LLP r...

There were Customs Act amendments proposed by CBSA along with the Canada's 2021 budget update specifically pertaining to goods valuation. Today, we'll be pulling from a Gowling WLG report on on the proposal. As a quick reminder, the Customs Act is the CBSA-administered regulations that lay out processes around the movement of goods in and out of Canada. The purpose of the Act is to standardize the collection of duties and control the importatio...

The trade industry has dealt with a lot of challenges, and that’s especially true when it comes to Canadian importers. They’ve been dealing with a lot of major challenges, from logistics to hardware issues, and beyond. The reason is simple: ever since the pandemic, the entire world has been dealing with a semiconductor surge that made it more and more challenges for businesses to not only grow, but also fulfill current orders in an appropri...