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Solid
Wood Packing Material Standards
Since
the Asian Long-horned beetle infestation demanded increased vigilance
with solid wood packing material in 1998, the CFIA has been in discussions
with various parties regarding the standards that wood packing should
be required to meet. These discussions have also been in response to the
European Union's implementation of emergency phytosanitary measures regarding
fears of the spread of the pine wood nematode.
No matter what the reasons, wood packing normally consists of cheap wood
that has not been subject to any further manufacturing or treatment.
It is an ideal media for the transmission of diseases and pests. Pallets
and skids are often reused without any regard to the risk they may pose.
It is expected that new regulations will be introduced by next year with
regard to the standards that non-manufactured wood must meet.
Currently, it is proposed that non-manufactured wood will have to undergo
heat treatment (via pasteurization, kiln drying or chemical pressure impregnation)
for at least thirty minutes, such that the core temperature must reach
a minimum of 56 degrees Celsius. Wood treated in this manner would require
special marking but would not need to be recertified after it received
approval. The other option, is to treat wood with methyl bromide fumigation.
Wood treated with methyl bromide would require recertification with each
use.
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GST Registration
Number on Invoices?
Is
your GST Registration number printed on your invoices? Do your service
providers, vendors etc. show their GST Registration number on their
invoices to you? The following case demonstrates the need for these
numbers to be printed.
At issue was whether the Minister of National Revenue erred in disallowing
input tax credits. Revenue Canada presented evidence that a subcontractor
had failed to indicate their GST Registration No. on their invoices.
As a result of this omission the input tax credits were denied and
the subsequent appeal was dismissed.
We recommend that you ensure that your accounts payable procedures
include the requirement to check for this "insignificant"
piece of data.
Source: Rapid Transit Courier Ltd. vs. The Queen, July 26, 2000
- Court File No. 1999-128 (GST) 1 (2000) GSTR 2032 (TCC)
Preventing
Delays
Preventing
delays in having your goods released is easy in theory but tricky
in practice. Besides legibility of faxed documents, the most frequent
problem we encounter is not enough information on the invoices that
we receive from your suppliers. The following elements on your suppliers'
invoices would reduce release times and phone calls to you or your
suppliers:
- Name & Address of Importer of Record -
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The company
that will be
responsible for payment of duty and taxes, not necessarily the consignee:
-Name & Address of Exporter
-Unit of Measure & Quantity of Goods - Including the
number of cartons/packages etc.
-Value of Goods & Currency of Settlement - Even "no
charge" goods require a value for Customs purposes, normally
the value would be the same as if you were actually buying the goods.
-Detailed Description of Goods - The description should have
enough detail so that the goods can be assigned a tariff classification
number.
-Country of Origin of Goods - Not where they were shipped
from but where the goods were actually manufactured.
-Number of Invoice Pages
SIMA
- Special Import Measures Act
Just a reminder
if a price on a product seems too good to be true, it often is.
Please keep in mind when making purchases, that if the price of
the goods is very attractive it may be worth your while to contact
us to see if the goods are subject to anti-dumping or countervailing duty.
In particular, the Government has agreed to address concerns about
low priced steel. Currently steel imports represent 45% of the Canadian
market.
Tariff
Preference Level
Under NAFTA,
textile goods are subject to
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specific restrictions.
In many cases, apparel and textile goods are unable to meet the
"yarn forward" or "fibre forward" requirements
in order to qualify as NAFTA goods. These necessitate that the yarn
or fibre used to produce the good must originate in a NAFTA country.
The Tariff Preference Level (TPL) mechanism was instituted to allow
additional goods to enter under the reduced NAFTA duty rates. In
order to qualify, the goods must undergo significant processing
in one of the NAFTA countries, this requires two operations to be
conducted in one of the territories e.g. cutting/knitting to shape
and sewing/assembling.TPL's consist of a finite quantity, however the quotas to date have
not been filled. Therefore, retroactive TPL import permits may still
be applied for on goods imported previously that meet the conditions.
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