The United States Customs and Border Protection Service (CBP) announced an increase to the merchandise processing fee (MPF) rate for formal entries from 0.21% to 0.3464% effective October 1, 2011. The minimum and maximum fees, $25 and $485 respectively, did not change.
CBP's system changes to automatically collect the increased fee are expected to be in place by Saturday November 5, 2011
For entries filed on or after October 1, 2011, until the CBP system changes take effect with the 0.3464% rate, CBP will bill the importer for the increase in MPF. CBP will disregard differences of less than $20.
Goods that originate in the NAFTA territory and that qualify to be marked as Canadian goods according to the Marking Rules are exempt from the merchandise processing fee since 1994.
Attention Highway Carriers: eManifest may apply to you
Several changes to the Harmonized System, the foundation of most countries' customs tariffs, announced over a year ago, generated many of the upcoming amendments.
"We welcome the European negotiating team to Ottawa. Working alongside our negotiators, Canada and the EU are moving closer to an ambitious agreement that has the potential to boost two-way trade by 20 percent," said Minister Fast. "These negotiations represent our most significant trade initiative since the North American Free Trade Agreement.."
According to the study, which uses 2010 data, cargo shipments to ports on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway navigation system generated $34.6 billion of economic activity and 227,000 jobs in Canada and the U.S. That breaks down to 98,000 jobs and $15.9 billion in economic activity in Ontario and Quebec.
In accordance with the eManifest implementation approach, the announcement comes as all transmission options (Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and the eManifest Portal) are now available and operating efficiently. The following key dates will apply to eManifest implementation in the highway mode:
Imports reached $38.5 billion as imports of machinery and equipment gained 2.5%, automotive products increased 2.3% and industrial goods and materials increased 1.7%. The energy products sector declined 13.6% to $3.9 billion as crude petroleum fell 25.3%.
"A trade agreement with Morocco will help Canadian businesses across a range of sectors including manufacturing, agriculture, and services industries" said Minister of International Trade, Ed Fast.
"The main catalyst here is the surge in exports to emerging markets and the significant decline in exports to the U.S., which are currently back to the pre-NAFTA levels," says CIBC Deputy Chief Economist Benjamin Tal. "At this rate, the U.S. share of total exports will fall to 60 per cent by the end of the decade, with emerging markets picking up nearly 90 per cent of the gain."
ACTA will establish new international standards for enforcing intellectual property rights. It will cover three areas: improving international cooperation, establishing best practices for enforcement and providing a more effective legal framework to address the problem of counterfeiting and piracy. It will also give innovators, artists and entrepreneurs enhanced measures to ensure their creations and associated rights are protected.
"Japan is an important and long-standing bilateral air transport partner," said Minister of Transport Denis Lebel,. "Further expanding air transportation rights is another step in the implementation of our government's Blue Sky policy. The expanded agreement is expected to lead to additional benefits for Canada's air travellers, shippers, airports and tourism industry."
In its part of the review the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) initiated an investigation to determine whether the expiry of the findings, and the removal of relevant duties, would likely result in the continuation or resumption of dumping and/or subsidizing of the goods.
All subsequent imports of wheat products accounted for after the cut-off date must be classified at the "over access commitment" tariff item number, which carries a much larger rate of duty, even if they are imported, or imported and released, before the quota is filled.