The Canada Border Services Agency will make the changes from the Electronic Commerce Client Requirements Document addendum (see 1910040050) available in the testing environment on Dec. 18, the agency said in a Dec. 17 email. “The changes will be available in the CBSA’s Production environment by the end of January 2020,” it said. “The official production date will be communicated by the CBSA’s Technical Commercial Client Unit as soon as a date has been confirmed.”

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Dec. 13 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

Costa Rica’s tax administration is requesting comments on a proposal for a charging mechanism that would apply for value-added tax purposes involving certain cross-border purchases, according to a Dec. 11 post from KPMG. The draft mechanism proposes that Costa Rican issuers of debit cards or credit cards collect VATs for those purchases through a digital platform, KPMG said. The platforms could choose to register with the tax administration, KPMG said, or the VAT collection mechanism would be applied and collect VAT directly through the cards, the post said.

The Canada Border Services Agency updated Memorandum D19-6-3 on importing energy-using goods to add some new product requirements. The memo was updated to reflect amendments that “as of December 12, 2019, add import reporting requirements for the following new products: electric furnaces, heat and energy-recovery ventilators, commercial gas boilers, commercial oil boilers, commercial electric water heaters, commercial gas-fired storage water heaters, commercial oil-fired water heaters, household and commercial gas-fired instantaneous water heaters, miscellaneous refrigeration products, portable air conditioners, and clean water pumps,” the CBSA said. Natural Resources Canada also released an updated list of the affected Harmonized System codes in November (see 1911040042).

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Dec. 11 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

The Canada Border Services Agency issued a memo on the customs excise duty procedures for cannabis edibles, extracts and topical products. The memo includes a list of proposed excise duty rates and an example of how the customs, federal excise and provincial excise are calculated. “All modifications will be active in the Customs Commercial System (CCS) beginning December 16, 2019,” the agency said.

Recent editions of Mexico's Diario Oficial list trade-related notices as follows:

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Dec. 4 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

The Canada Border Services Agency will relax a requirement that Free and Secure Trade (FAST) program members must first be part of the Customs Self Assessment, the agency said in a Dec. 9 customs notice. “Under the expansion of the FAST Membership criteria, the CBSA will extend FAST lane eligibility to highway carriers and importers who are sole members of the Partners in Protection (PIP) program,” it said. The agency will also use “two new notices that are generated pre-arrival to advise a carrier that a shipment is eligible or ineligible to use the FAST lane at the reporting port of entry,” it said. The change is effective on Dec. 9.

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Dec. 6 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):