THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay Chamber delegates were successful in garnering national support at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s two-day virtual Annual Meeting and Convention, which concluded on October 28, for a local resolution that addresses the improper collection of duties at land borders with the United States.
“Basically, anyone who orders things and has them shipped to Ryden's across the border for pick-up, when they’re coming across the border with those goods, in most cases they’re not getting charged the right amount of duty, because it’s being tagged incorrectly through the system that’s put in place through border services,” said Charla Robinson, President of the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce.
“We put a recommendation that we will be working with the government to try to get them to address this oversight that the system is just not set up properly and it’s really causing an un-level playing field because, if retailers are buying those items to sell in their store and having them shipped, they’re paying those duties, but individuals who are buying them online and going to pick them up are not necessarily paying those duties.”
A key focus of the conference was the debate of resolutions on a broad range of issues including taxation, immigration, human resources and international trade policies.
“And the reason that duties are collected by the Canadian Border Services is based on the trade agreements that we have with different countries,” said Robinson.
“So, we know that with the US and Mexico, there’s the Canada-US-Mexico Trade Agreement, used to be NAFTA, we know that there’s duty free for items that are made in the US and Mexico in most cases, but the reality is, if you bring something across the border that you purchased in the US, but, that isn’t necessarily made in the US, different duties apply.”
Approved policies become official Canadian Chamber positions and will form the CCC’s advocacy activities with the new Federal Government.
As outlined in the resolution, Canada Border Services Agency is responsible for the collection of taxes, duties, and tariffs on imported items. Currently, there is a significant gap in CBSA duty collection at US/Canada land border crossings due to the incorrect identification of country-of-origin code resulting in duty free status.
The resolution recommends three specific actions for the Government of Canada to take to safeguard a level playing field for Canadian retailers and ensure that duties are appropriately collected at land border crossing.
To read the full text of the submitted policy resolutions visit this website.
