So much to do. So little time.

I wanted to start off by going back to a Blog post that I wrote in October of 2021. Not many are familiar with Gefilte Fish. Therefore, from a Customs perspective, not many may know how to properly declare Gefilte Fish to Customs.
https://customsandcooking.blogspot.com/2021/10/smells-fishy.html
As I just made a batch of gefilte fish (see picture), I thought I would bring up the Blog posting from October.
That takes us to the current Customs issues.
Proper classification of goods being imported under the HS/HTS nomenclature is always a hot topic within Customs compliance.

The current focus in Canada, however, is the CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management project (CARM).

Very recently, I attended a webinar and a question about Customs compliance was posed: "What happens if our company does not have the budget for Customs compliance?"
Goes without saying that the response was something to the effect of if there is no budget for compliance then the company will probably not exist in the near future.

Businesses today are in for a surprise when CARM goes live. The Phase 2 on-boarding has been delayed from May 2022 to at least January of 2023. This does not mean to put preparations for CARM on the back-burner. It means that importers now received a gift of more time to align with CARM.

CBSA has provided transparency to industry outlining how CARM will be utilized for compliance enforcement. Importers should be aware that there will be status levels granted by CBSA that could allow importers to be defined as compliant or non-compliant and thereby increasing/decreasing the verification touch points that CBSA initiates.

This new model could be a welcome change for some and a frightening thought for others.
So there is much to do and time will pass by quite quickly from now until early 2023.

- CARM Portal Registration
- Obtaining a Security Bond 
- Verification of proper HS Classification
- Review of validity of origin preferential treatment
- Confirming proper Valuation (especially between related parties)

There is SO MUCH TO DO and really there is SO LITTLE TIME.

One of the ways to analyze your current customs process and begin aligning it with CARM is allocating some of the tasks internally within the compliance team or to outsource some of the tasks to knowledgeable service providers/business partners.

Don't wait...
...until it is too late!
Begin looking at compliance now...
...so that there are no future surprises with someone shouting WOW!
Location: Montreal, QC, Canada

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