WINNIPEG – Whistling by Canada Customs on the way out of Canada in a grain truck is not an option, a senior official with the Customs and Excise division said last week.
Pierre Trudel said some grain exporters are under the mistaken impression they are not required to report into Canada Customs on their way out of Canada.
That belief has paved the way for a steady flow of wheat and barley into the U.S., some of which officials suspect is travelling without an export permit obtained from the Canadian Wheat Board.
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“People have not been stopping,” Trudel said.
Failing to stop is an infraction under customs legislation as well as a breach of the Canadian Wheat Board Act requiring exporters to provide an export permit.
While it is true exporters generally are no longer required to file a document called the B-13 with border officials, wheat and barley are on the list of regulated commodities which require special documentation before they can be exported, he said.
Trudel said customs officials will be stepping up efforts to ensure trucks comply, short of standing in their way as they pass the border point.
“Nobody wants to become an ornament on somebody’s grille,” he said. “We have the means to go back and get them after the fact.”
Exporters who do stop and who fail to provide an export permit from the CWB could face penalties, including having their truck detained until proper documentation is provided.
The Canadian Wheat Board advisory committee has been calling for improved enforcement to quell the illegal exports.
The committee approved a resolution at its June meeting urging the RCMP to lay charges against farmers caught exporting without an export permit from the board, or exporting volumes that exceed their permit.
Although RCMP are investigating two cases involving exports into the U.S., a spokesman said last week no charges have yet been laid.
Committee chair Wilf Harder said the illegal movement affects all producers. “This action takes away from the price pooling system that gives all farmers a fair return from all markets, and it undermines the single-desk effectiveness of the CWB,” Harder said in a release.
A discrepancy between Canadian export figures and U.S. import statistics suggests nearly 370,000 tonnes moved into the U.S. during the first eight months of this crop year without being recorded through official channels.
