When purchasing a commodity as a single transaction that must be broken down into multiple loads for shipping purposes, written authorization is required from Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) prior to the first shipment leaving the vendor’s facility to come to Canada. This authorization may take anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks to obtain.
There are two ways to handle these importations under current regulations:
- Memorandum D17-1-4 – Known Short Shipment (Paragraphs 103-108)
- Memorandum D13-3-10 – Split Shipments
Applying the correct procedure will ensure you pay the minimum amount of duties while remaining compliant with import legislation. It will also save you the time of creating breakdowns of values in relation to every sub-component — all that is required is a packing list detailing the items within each load at time of clearance.
The following are examples of the types of commodities that may be affected:
- Cranes & hoists
- Ski lifts
- Assembly line
- Oil rigs
- Lot purchase
- Prefabricated buildings
- Large systems or machinery
