Enhanced support for intellectual property rights

In a bid to combat copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting, the Federal Government has given Royal Assent to a new Act that enacts new border enforcement measures under the Copyright Act and Trademarks Act.  The new Act allows:

• Customs officials to proactively search and detain suspected counterfeit trademark goods, labels or packaging as well as suspected pirated copyrighted goods
• more information exchange between Customs officers and rights owners
• increased access to the information rights holders need to facilitate civil enforcement 

For more information, contact Brian Rowe, General Manager – Customs Consulting Services.

Is your product being targeted for Trade Verification?

Do you know what parts for power trains, generating sets and cereal grains have in common? They are all on the list of items that are verification priorities for Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) in the first half of 2015.

The list (normally issued semi-annually in January and July) outlines targeted commodities for the coming period.  In previous years the list was issued as a basic PDF commodity listing.  New for 2015 is an active web-based list which provides much more detail, including why the commodity is being reviewed and the results of the review upon closure (See examples below).

Clients of Universal Logistics are notified on a commodity basis to be prepared for a potential verification while transactions of subject goods are reviewed by our Customs Consulting Services team to ensure compliance.

• The risk identified is that fresh cut flowers may be misclassified as “other” fresh cut flowers, which attract a duty rate of 6%.
• Flowers named in the Customs Tariff should be classified under their respective tariff items, which attract duty rates from 8% to 16%.
• This verification priority was released in April 2012.

  
     *Additional revenue is still expected from self-adjustments.

• The results show that many flowers specifically named in the Customs Tariff were misclassified as other fresh cut flowers.
• A verification priority regarding the valuation of fresh cut flowers is also underway.

• The risk identified is that generating sets could be incorrectly classified within Heading 85.02, instead of being properly classified elsewhere within the same position, and potentially be subject to a duty rate of 2%.
• This verification priority was released in August 2014.
• Results are not yet available.

If your company is not using Universal Logistics for customs brokerage – and you are unsure about your level of customs compliance – now is the time to ask for a free SMART Customs Review, available exclusively from Universal Logistics.  This service includes a preliminary assessment of selected entries over a specific time period, covering key issues such as tariff classifications, related-party valuations and origin eligibility.  You may even be eligible for refunds and duty drawbacks.  And it’s all absolutely free.

For more information, contact Brian Rowe, General Manager – Customs Consulting Services.

	Many streets in this country’s capital city appear to be frozen in time.

Global Spotlight Quiz