The Canadian Food Inspection Agency “is advising distributors, importers, restaurants, retailers, and institutions not to distribute, import, sell, serve, or use romaine lettuce, and products containing romaine lettuce, harvested in the Salinas growing region of California,” it said in a Nov. 22 notice. The advice follows U.S. government alerts concerning an E. coli outbreak that was traced to romaine lettuce from California, it said. “At this time, romaine lettuce that was harvested outside of the Salinas region has not been implicated in this outbreak investigation,” CFIA said. “Additionally, hydroponically and greenhouse-grown romaine does not appear to be related to the current outbreak and is safe to eat.”

The 2020 version of the Canadian Automated Export Declaration (CAED) program software will be ready for download on Dec. 9, the Canada Border Services Agency said in a Nov. 25 customs notice. Starting Jan. 31, only the 2020 CAED version will be valid, it said. The CAED program will be retired altogether on June 30, 2020, and replaced by the CBSA Canadian Export Reporting System (CERS), it said. “CERS is a free, web-based, self-service portal that will enable exporters and [customs service providers] to continue to submit export declarations electronically to the CBSA for the purpose of reporting the export of commercial goods,” the CBSA said. “It includes many of the same data requirements as CAED and is designed to accept Summary Reporting Program (SRP) reports of eligible goods, as well as have the functionality allowing businesses to submit a large set of declaration data via its 'bulk upload' feature.” Also beginning on June 30, 2020, “the CBSA will be mandating electronic export reporting and will no longer accept Paper Export Declaration Forms (B13A). Exporters, or their customs service providers, will be required to report their exports electronically.”

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Nov. 22 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

Argentina and Mexico made several antidumping determinations on products from China and Malaysia, according to a Nov. 21 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. Argentina will rescind its 178 percent antidumping duties on certain “conveyor belts of vulcanised rubber reinforced only with textile materials” and introduced a 56 percent duty on certain mainland Chinese knitted gloves, the report said. Argentina also determined that certain glass plates exported to Argentina from Malaysia are evading the antidumping duty on certain ceramic, marble and glass tiles from mainland China. Mexico began a sunset review of antidumping duties on certain concrete steel nails from mainland China, the report said.

Colombia announced unlimited duty-free treatment for imports of certain electric vehicles, and lowered import duties to 5 percent on certain motor vehicles fueled only by natural gas, according to a Nov. 21 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The changes take effect Nov. 28. In a separate decision, Colombia announced duty-free treatment for certain “household appliance inputs,” the report said. That change takes effect Dec. 3.

The Canada Border Services Agency updated its memorandum on the importation and transportation of goods on Nov. 18 to reflect updates to the definitions and “clarify corrections to cargo control documents," it said. Also new is "bond information and amounts for each mode of transportation" and "information on direct delivery of consolidated shipments," it said. CBSA also added "information on goods found astray (misrouted), non-resident importer, Carnets and other temporary imports, 'to order' shipments, moving company and personal effects, entered to arrive and value included shipments, ships stores, and duty free stores."

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Nov. 18 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

The government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices as of Nov. 15 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

A moratorium on export permits for trade with Saudi Arabia is "having a negative impact on Canadian exporters," Global Affairs Canada said in a Nov. 13 memorandum. The policy, which started in November 2018 due to humanitarian concerns, only prevented new permits, while companies with existing permits were allowed to continue to export to Saudi Arabia, it said. "The open-ended nature of Canada’s moratorium on new export permits, and the lack of identified conditions that would allow a resumption of permit issuance, present a high commercial risk for Canadian companies," GAC said. Still, "it is difficult to gather precise figures on the value of lost business," it said.

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