Louise Chevanelle, Formation en Douane Louise Chevanelle, who has often provided training workshops and coaching on customs procedures to Laval companies, sent a self-evaluation grid for exporting SME. It presents major questions you should ask yourself as a leader, to ensure your business is in accordance with customs procedures. As she points out, business leaders tend to delegate all customs procedures with customs brokers, without carrying out control work on it. Without questioning their skills, customs brokers are not infallible and do not know your products as well as you.

It is important to remember that in case of error, it is you who are responsible and that fines for misrepresentation could be imposed upon you, even if no customs duties are applied to your products. In addition, customs authorities can and will ask you retroactive adjustments up to 5 years!

Without becoming an expert in customs procedures, it is crucial that you understand the process of customs declaration for your product and make regular follow-up on statements made by your broker or employees. For more information, please contact us and / or consult different sources as this Step-by-Step Guide to Exporting published by the Canada Border Services Agency.

Bruno Séguin