What is NAFTA?
It’s the acronym for the North American Free Trade Agreement, a trade agreement between Canada, the United States, and Mexico that allows for reduced or duty-free rates on goods that are imported from these countries.
On the goods that I’m ordering from the US, how can I determine if they’ll qualify for NAFTA?
The only people who can make that determination is the supplier or the manufacturer of the goods.
We discovered that goods that we had recently imported from one of our US suppliers qualified for NAFTA. How can we now recover the duty we have paid?
Customs Act regulations allow you to file for a refund within one year of importing the goods. When submitting your claim you must provide a copy of the NAFTA certificate along with the original documentation.
We recently imported some goods from a supplier who gave us a NAFTA certificate, but we discovered that the goods do not qualify under NAFTA. What should we do?
Obtain a letter from your supplier that explains the incorrect use of NAFTA, and then file an amendment to the customs entry.
I am expecting a shipment from the US. Can I prepare the NAFTA certificate for these goods myself?
Because the supplier or the manufacturer are the only people authorized to determine whether certain goods qualify for NAFTA, they are the ones that must complete the NAFTA certificate.
