A First Look At Importing Wooden Décor into Canada

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ABC Customs Brokers Jan 29, 2015

When importing goods that fall under tariff items 4420.10, 4420.90, 4421.90 or 9505.10 such as statuettes, other ornaments of wood and articles for Christmas festivities containing wooden components, the following information is required to ensure admissibility under Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) import requirements:

• Thickness of wood  – Is it greater than, less than or equal to 1.5 cm thick?
• Finish of the article – Is the article completely finished for example painted, lacquered, etc, or unfinished?
• Wooden bark – Does the item contain bark?

It is strongly recommended that this information is clearly indicated on the invoice for each shipment prior to the documents being submitted to your customs brokers. If the required information is not provided then affected importers will be contacted however, this can potentially result in delays in customs clearance.

Goods classified under these headings that are less than 1.5 cm thick will most likely be approved for import with no additional document requirements.

Goods classified under these headings that are greater 1.5 cm thick, depending on your origin, could require any or all of the following:

• Plant Protection Import Permit
• Phytosanitary Certificate
• Phytosanitary Certificate for Re-export

Recently, we have encountered several transactions containing decorative wood products where the invoice description did not provide on the thickness, whether it was a is completely finished article or if it contained bark. After the goods were released the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) contacted the importer to perform an inspection on the shipment. Many products were found to exceed 1.5 cm thickness and were of foreign origin. This resulted in a Phytosanitary Certificate for Re-export being required.  As this was not prepared at the time of export, the supplier was not able to produce the required documents. Therefore the CFIA forced the importer to destroy the goods in question at the importers expense.

Should you need more information, please contact your local CFIA office at: Area and Regional Offices