Products entering without permits because custom duties for chicken, dairy too complex for border service to enforce
Canada’s auditor general says the country isn’t collecting all the agricultural duties that it should be at the border.
Michael Ferguson, in his spring report, said in 2015, importers who exceeded allowed amounts for products like chicken and dairy avoided $168 million in duties.
“Custom duties are too complex for the agency to enforce and that makes it easy for importers to bypass rules and regulations,” he said, referring to the Border Service Agency.
The auditor found that $131 million worth of poultry, beef, eggs and dairy products entered Canada without proper permits. They would have generated the $168 million in duties.
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Some products brought in duty-free under the Duties Relief Program were sold in the country, despite the fact they are supposed to be exported.
Six companies lost their licences last year for not paying the duties.
“The system for assessing customs duties doesn’t meet the needs of today,” Ferguson said in his report. “It can be expensive to apply, it can be difficult to administer, and, in fact, what we found was that the system as it exists on paper is different than the system as it’s actually being applied in practice.”
In the House of Commons, agriculture minister Lawrence MacAulay said the Duties Relief Program is a concern.
“When I became minister of agriculture I found out it was a big problem at the border,” he said in question period. “We addressed that problem, and six import companies have lost their certificates to import products in this country, supply management products.”
MacAulay said the government will continue to work on the problem.
He also addressed the issue at the Commons agriculture committee.
“Have we solved all the problems? No we haven’t, but we’re certainly working on it to make sure the supply-managed sector is treated in a fair manner,” he said.
