NAFTA Verification

Ensure Efficient Customs Clearance

By: Jason Waite

       In early 2002 we analyzed claims for NAFTA preferential treatment of imported goods.                                                                             See http://www.twinplantnews.com/issues/feb02/CustomsReport.htm. That article focused on the various preference criteria by which products may qualify as NAFTA originating goods.  It also described the NAFTA Verification process through which the governments of the United States , Me xico , and Canada may request documentation, in addition to the ordinary NAFTA Certificate of Origin, to support NAFTA preferential claims made by importers.

    The right of each country’s customs administration to audit NAFTA claims, effectively looking behind what may be perfectly executed NAFTA Certificates to require production, purchasing, and accounting records, may suggest that the most important requirement for making NAFTA claims is maintaining all of the supporting documents.  It may even suggest that the actual production and purchasing and accounting records, if clearly demonstrating the NAFTA eligibility of a product, are the most important components of a claim NAFTA treatment.

    However, U.S. Customs has stringently interpreted the procedural requirements of entry, liquidation, and the filing of NAFTA preferential claims, resulting in the denial of preferential treatment for some products that otherwise qualified as NAFTA originating goods.  This article focuses on some of the procedural pitfalls to avoid in operating...

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