Conclusion of Canada-Honduras free trade negotiations

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the President of Honduras, Porfirio Lobo, announced the conclusion of negotiations toward a Canada-Honduras free trade agreement.

Canada and Honduras agreed to launch bilateral negotiations in October 2010. Officials from the two countries met in Ottawa in December 2010, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in February 2011, and again in Ottawa in July 2011 to advance discussions.

Honduras offers promising opportunities for Canadian businesses. In 2010, two-way merchandise trade between Canada and Honduras totalled $192 million.

Canadian exports to Honduras totalled $40.8 million and consisted mainly of fertilizers, machinery and dye. Canadian merchandise imports from Honduras totalled $151.2 million, consisting mainly of fruits, and knit and woven apparel.

Canadian companies active in Honduras are involved in the apparel, mining and manufacturing sectors, among other areas.

The free trade agreement, including parallel agreements on labour standards and practices, and environmental protection, will come into force once both countries complete their domestic ratification processes.

Talks to begin on updating the Canada-Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the President of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, announced last week that the two countries will begin negotiations to modernize the existing Canada-Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement.

The Canada-Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement (CCRFTA), which entered into force on November 1, 2002, is a first-generation agreement that focuses mainly on trade in goods and does not include substantive provisions in other areas such as cross-border trade in services, investment and government procurement.

Negotiations towards the modernization of the Canada-Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement will aim to accelerate the elimination of tariffs for agricultural and industrial goods, increase market access and broaden the agreement to cover other areas, such as cross-border trade in services, including financial services.

Canada and Costa Rica had agreed about a year ago to work toward modernizing the existing bilateral free trade agreement. Subsequent government-to-government exploratory discussions and public consultations with domestic stakeholders revealed broad-based support for the launch of negotiations to modernize the CCRFTA.

Canada imposes additional sanctions against North Korea

On August 11, 2011, Canada imposed additional sanctions against North Korea under the Special Economic Measures Act. These sanctions are in addition to existing sanctions passed under the United Nations Act.

The new Special Economic Measures Regulations provide for the following:

• a ban on all new investment in North Korea;
• a ban on the provision of financial services to North Korea and to persons in North Korea;
• a ban on the provision of technical data to North Korea, and
• a ban on the docking and landing in, and transiting of, Canada by North Korean ships and aircraft.

Some exceptions are available, including the following:

• humanitarian efforts and goods, such as food and medical supplies or equipment;
• stabilization and reconstruction assistance and activities;
• financial or other support provided by the Government of Canada; and
• non-commercial remittances.

In addition, the Special Economic Measures Permit Authorization Order authorizes the Minister of Foreign Affairs to issue to any person in Canada or any Canadian outside Canada a permit to carry out a specified activity or transaction, or any class of activity or transaction, that is restricted or prohibited pursuant to the Regulations.

End of Canadian surtax on beef, pork and gherkins from the European Union

The Government of Canada repealed the European Union Surtax Order which has imposed, since August 1999, a 100% duty on certain meat products (beef and pork) and gherkins originating from 15 countries of the European Union (EU).

The measure, authorized by the World Trade Organization, was in retaliation against an EU ban on imports of Canadian meat derived from cattle treated with growth-promoting hormones.

In March of this year a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Canada and the European Commission, providing compensation to Canada for the EU's ban on imports of beef from animals treated with growth-promoting hormones.

Pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding the EU is to provide compensation to Canada in the form of duty-free access for certain quantities of hormone-free beef exported from Canada and Canada is to remove the surtax currently imposed on certain products of beef, pork and gherkins imported from the EU.

The compensation provided to Canada by the EU will allow Canadian beef exporters to gain better access into the EU market for an amount of exports that is commensurate to the value of imports on which Canada is to remove its retaliatory surtax ($11.3 million).

The Canada Border Services Agency will ensure that the surtax is no longer applied. The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, which is responsible for the administration of the Export and Import Permits Act, will no longer be issuing import permits for the item of schedule 2 of the European Union Surtax Order and this item will be removed from the Import Control List.

Changes to anti-dumping duty applied to hot rolled steel sheet and strip

The Canadian International Trade Tribunal announced its decision in the review of the dumping of flat hot-rolled carbon and alloy steel sheet and strip from Brazil, China, Chinese Taipei, India, South Africa and Ukraine and the subsidizing of flat hot-rolled carbon and alloy steel sheet and strip from India.

The majority of the Tribunal found that the expiry of the order concerning flat hot-rolled carbon and alloy steel sheet and strip from Brazil, China, Chinese Taipei, India and Ukraine would likely cause injury to the domestic industry and continued its order in respect of these goods.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) will therefore continue to impose anti-dumping duties and/or countervailing on these goods.

In addition, following the determination made by the President of the CBSA on March 31, 2011, that the expiry of the Tribunal's order was unlikely to result in the continuation or resumption of dumping of flat hot-rolled carbon and alloy steel sheet and strip from South Africa, the Tribunal rescinded its order in respect of these goods.

The CBSA will therefore stop collecting anti-dumping duties on hot-rolled carbon and alloy steel sheet and strip from South Africa.

Technical documents: Government memorandums, notices and decisions

This page lists newly published government memorandums, notices, regulations and decisions. Clicking on a title will open the document (in a new window) as published by the relevant department or agency on its own Web site.

Canada Border Services Agency

• Memorandum D2-2-2 Settlers' Effects Acquired With Blocked Currencies. This memorandum has been modified to reflect the updated name of the issuing office.
• Memorandum D3-6-0 Railway Rolling Stock, Railway Locomotives and Miscellaneous Railway Equipment Temporarily Imported for Use In International Service and/or Diverted to Domestic Use.
• Tariff Notice - TN-54 Due to a technical error, some dates reflected in the tariff pages found in Tariff Amendment T2011-2 (the PDF and Microsoft Access files) are incorrect; the effective date should be August 15, 2011.
• Goods subject to anti-dumping or countervailing duties. Measures in Force. Last reviewed August 15, 2011.

Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade

• P.C. 2011-831 Order Amending the Import Control List and Repealing the European Union Surtax Order, in order to remove the surtax that Canada imposes on imports of beef, pork and gherkins from the European Union.
• Notice to Importers SER-791 Items 161 to 191 - Wheat, Barley and Their Products.
• Export permits for Cyptographic Items.
• Clarifications on Multiple destination permit for dual-use items.
• Canada imposes additional sanctions against North Korea. These sanctions are in addition to existing sanctions passed under the United Nations Act.

Canadian Food Inspection Agency

• Policy TAHD-DSAT-IE-2002-10-7 Terrestrial Animal Health Import Requirements for Rendered and Inedible Products, July 22, 2011
• Policy TAHD-DSAT-IE-2005-9-3 BSE Import Policy for Bovine Animals and Their Products and By-Products, July 22, 2011
• Meat Hygiene Directives for 2011: Updates
  - MHD 2011-35 Chapter 11 - Section 11.7.e - Australia
  - MHD 2011-34 Chapter 11 - Section 11.7.e - Singapore
  - MHD 2011-33 Chapter 11 - Section 11.7.e - Sri Lanka

Canadian International Trade Tribunal

• Appeal No. AP-2009-078 Disco-Tech Industries, Inc. Classification of certain cartridge magazines.
• Expiry Review. Flat hot-rolled carbon and alloy steel sheet and strip from Brazil, China, Chinese Taipei, India, South Africa and Ukraine.

United States

• U.S. CBP Courtesy Notice of Liquidation - Final rule. This document amends Regulations pertaining to the method by which U.S. CBP issues courtesy notices of liquidation to importers of record whose entry summaries are filed in the Automated Broker Interface. [PDF]
• U.S. CBP CSMS# 11-000180 - Information Notice e-Manifest: Rail and Sea (M1). CBP will be deploying new capabilities later this month that will allow rail and sea carriers to transmit electronic manifest data to the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE).
• U.S. CBP Forms 301 & 301A. Effective immediately, the new CBP Forms 301 (Customs Bond) & 301A (Addendum to CBP Form 301) are available for use. Through the remainder of 2011, U.S. Customs and Border Protection will accept either these new versions or the CBP 301 version with an expiration date of 12/31/2010.