HELP… My Shipment is being Examined!The worst has happened. Your shipment is being held for exam by customs. There are going to be delays and extra charges. You worked so hard to make sure you had thought of everything, and now this. You didn’t even do anything wrong! Why you? Why now? Why can’t your customs broker fix this? What are you even paying them for??
For better or worse, CBSA examinations are a normal part of doing business in Canada. If you import for long enough, you’re almost guaranteed to be examined at some point.
When you’re notified that a shipment you are importing is being held for exam, DON’T PANIC!
Reach out to your customs broker for more information. They will be able to tell you what kind of exam this is. It’s very hard to know how long an exam is going to take, but they might be able to give you some idea of average time frames and whether there will be any additional charges.
There are several types of Customs Exams:
Sea Freight Container Exams: periodically, shipping containers arriving in Canada by sea will be selected for exam, usually before the vessel lands. When a container is selected for exam, the whole container will be craned off the vessel and taken to a CBSA warehouse for inspection. The container will then be repacked and returned to the port, to be either picked up by the importer or taken to a warehouse for destuffing. Unfortunately, this means that there will be demurrage charges from the shipping line for holding up the container. If multiple importers have goods in the container, they will divide up the charges based on how much of the container is occupied by an importer’s goods. For example, if your goods fill 20% the container, you’ll be charged 20% of the total demurrage. A CBSA exam of a full container usually takes 2-3 weeks.
CBSA Exams: after your broker has submitted the customs declaration, CBSA might choose to physically examine the shipment to make sure the goods match the declaration. This type of exam takes less time than a container exam, and is often completed within a few days.
Exams from another government department: if you are importing goods that are regulated by governmental agencies other than CBSA, those agencies reserve the right to examine the goods. For example, if you are importing a medical device, Health Canada may request an exam or additional information to be provided about the goods; if you import anything that is intended for human consumption, the Canadian Food Inspection agency may want to have a look.
Some reasons why your shipment might be selected for exam include:
- you’re a new importer;
- you’re importing highly regulated goods, such as live plants;
- you import regularly and it’s been a while since your last exam;
- your goods share a shipping container with other importers and one of the other importers has been flagged for attention by CBSA, so the whole container is being examined.
If an importer has run afoul of customs in the past- for example, if they have been caught misdeclaring goods, or if they previously tried to bring in goods without proper documentation or certification- their future shipments are far more likely to be examined. However, many CBSA exams are random. You are less likely to be examined frequently if you have a clean importing record, but ultimately there is no way to completely avoid exams.
Once a shipment or a container has been referred for exam, the exam absolutely must happen before the goods can be released. There is no way to cancel or rush an exam. Unfortunately, there is no one your broker can call to explain how much of a problem this is causing your business and ask them to hurry up- if there was, every single broker would call them, every single time!
Exams can be time-consuming and expensive but they are an unavoidable part of doing business as an importer to Canada, particularly if you import by sea. Because it’s almost impossible to predict which shipments will be selected for exam, the best thing you can do as an importer is build a little extra time into your schedule and budget for sporadic exam costs.
Talk to your customs broker in advance and find out if your goods are regulated or likely to be examined. No one likes exams, but with a bit of advance planning, every exam doesn’t have to be a catastrophe.
By Robin Smith, M.A., CCS. – Robin is a trade industry professional based in Victoria, BC.
The worst has happened. Your shipment is being held for exam by customs. There are going to be delays and extra charges. You worked so hard to make sure you had thought of everything, and now this. You didn’t even do anything wrong! Why you? Why now? Why can’t your customs broker fix this? What are you even paying them for??
For better or worse, CBSA examinations are a normal part of doing business in Canada. If you import for long enough, you’re almost guaranteed to be examined at some point.
When you’re notified that a shipment you are importing is being held for exam, DON’T PANIC!
Reach out to your customs broker for more information. They will be able to tell you what kind of exam this is. It’s very hard to know how long an exam is going to take, but they might be able to give you some idea of average time frames and whether there will be any additional charges.
There are several types of Customs Exams:
Sea Freight Container Exams: periodically, shipping containers arriving in Canada by sea will be selected for exam, usually before the vessel lands. When a container is selected for exam, the whole container will be craned off the vessel and taken to a CBSA warehouse for inspection. The container will then be repacked and returned to the port, to be either picked up by the importer or taken to a warehouse for destuffing. Unfortunately, this means that there will be demurrage charges from the shipping line for holding up the container. If multiple importers have goods in the container, they will divide up the charges based on how much of the container is occupied by an importer’s goods. For example, if your goods fill 20% the container, you’ll be charged 20% of the total demurrage. A CBSA exam of a full container usually takes 2-3 weeks.
CBSA Exams: after your broker has submitted the customs declaration, CBSA might choose to physically examine the shipment to make sure the goods match the declaration. This type of exam takes less time than a container exam, and is often completed within a few days.
Exams from another government department: if you are importing goods that are regulated by governmental agencies other than CBSA, those agencies reserve the right to examine the goods. For example, if you are importing a medical device, Health Canada may request an exam or additional information to be provided about the goods; if you import anything that is intended for human consumption, the Canadian Food Inspection agency may want to have a look.
Some reasons why your shipment might be selected for exam include:
- you’re a new importer;
- you’re importing highly regulated goods, such as live plants;
- you import regularly and it’s been a while since your last exam;
- your goods share a shipping container with other importers and one of the other importers has been flagged for attention by CBSA, so the whole container is being examined.
If an importer has run afoul of customs in the past- for example, if they have been caught misdeclaring goods, or if they previously tried to bring in goods without proper documentation or certification- their future shipments are far more likely to be examined. However, many CBSA exams are random. You are less likely to be examined frequently if you have a clean importing record, but ultimately there is no way to completely avoid exams.
Once a shipment or a container has been referred for exam, the exam absolutely must happen before the goods can be released. There is no way to cancel or rush an exam. Unfortunately, there is no one your broker can call to explain how much of a problem this is causing your business and ask them to hurry up- if there was, every single broker would call them, every single time!
Exams can be time-consuming and expensive but they are an unavoidable part of doing business as an importer to Canada, particularly if you import by sea. Because it’s almost impossible to predict which shipments will be selected for exam, the best thing you can do as an importer is build a little extra time into your schedule and budget for sporadic exam costs.
Talk to your customs broker in advance and find out if your goods are regulated or likely to be examined. No one likes exams, but with a bit of advance planning, every exam doesn’t have to be a catastrophe.
By Robin Smith, M.A., CCS. – Robin is a trade industry professional based in Victoria, BC.
