| Vancouver,
B.C. We have entered into a business agreement with Davidson & Sons, a long-term
brokerage associate and have been assembling a warehouse facility due to
open very soon. This will be structured similar to our current Windsor facility
and we anticipate continued growth and many new business opportunities as
a result of this expanded service. Please take the time to review our site
at www.canadaplus.com. We welcome your comments. Finally, we hope to be
able to announce shortly our first foreign operation of canadaplus.com with
our anticipated entry into the United Kingdom. In closing, I feel that this
new direction will further enhance our service offering and allow our clients
to better serve their clients. Our clients have grown accustomed to our
professional, quality-focused service and it is important to us that we
continue to enhance this offering. My congratulations to our management
team at canadaplus.com for their wisdom and hard work in implementing this
transformation and to our entire Farrow team for their ongoing dedicated
support. We hope you will join with us in celebrating this promising and
exciting evolution for Parcel Logistics. |
by John Brooks
This question has been asked over and over for many years and will continue
to be an important question for Canadian importers. The subject was last
discussed in the Customs Reporter, September 1990 and it is appropriate
to re-visit the subject ten years later. Self-clearance remains an option
and for some companies, the decision to take that route is correct. However,
for the majority of importers, outsourcing this function to a Customs
Broker is the preferred option. There is no absolute answer, no right
or wrong decision. Sometimes the decision is made for the wrong reasons
and sometimes for the correct reasons. What are some of the factors that
determine the decision? The size of a company and volume of imports has
some impact on the decision. I believe the primary reason is the availability
of the required expertise. Some companies have highly qualified and experienced
Customs professionals and support staff on their payroll. These individuals
often control any discussion on the self- clearance decision and the Customs
department has, over time, become as much a fixture
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| in
the corporate structure as Purchasing, Accounting, Human Resources
and other traditional departments. Other companies continue to delegate
this responsibility to clerical staff who, if trained at all, are
“trained” by their predecessors. There is no expertise and the delegate
simply attempts to follow what was done before. Many software vendors
continue to market software aimed at the do-it-yourself Customs option.
Some of these |
you have such resources on your payroll? Do you want to have such
resources on your payroll? Is that the most effective way to manage
this process? As I said earlier, for some the answer is a resounding
“YES!” But, for the majority of importers, the answer is an equally
resounding “NO!” The majority of importers continue to do what they
do and do it well. They are manufacturers; distributors; processors;
service providers |
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| software
solutions are very good. The common limitation of such software however
is that the systems are only as good as the information entered. They
do not teach you how to classify goods or give you the skills necessary
to assure appropriate tariff classification. They don’t equip you
to assess the valuation of your imports or understand and comprehend
the intricacies of NAFTA. Self-clearance software options are most
effective when you have someone on staff with the required qualifications
and expertise. In recent years we have experienced a certain rationalization
of the Customs procedures and witnessed the introduction of new technologies.
These initiatives have their place in facilitating trade but do not
replace the requirement to have trained and highly skilled people
to utilize them to their fullest potential. Do |
–
THEY ARE NOT CUSTOMS PROFESSIONALS and choose not to be. Bob Dylan
used to sing a song that said “The times they are a changin’ ”. That
is as true today as it was in the sixties. Change has been the only
constant in a personal career that has so far spanned over thirty
years. The changes appearing on the horizon today are no different
than many of the changes that have gone before. The implementation
of new enhanced Customs procedures is not too different from the original
introduction of computers. They are tools that are most effective
in the hands of trained professionals. As an importer you have a choice
to make, hire a trained professional and put that resource on your
payroll or retain the services of Russell A. Farrow Limited, a team
of committed and highly trained professionals. Choose wisely! |
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Drawbacks
Reminder:
Effective January 1, 2001, exports of manufactured goods to Mexico will
be subject to the same restrictions that currently apply to those same
goods exported to the United States. In other words, the lesser-of-two-duties
concept, where the amount recoverable must be equal to whichever is
less: (1) the duties paid in Canada on the goods imported into Canada,
(2) the duties paid on imports to Mexico (or the USA). Proof of duty
payment is required. If you have any questions, with regards to this,
please contact your nearest Russell A. Farrow Technical Services or
Trade Compliance department.
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