What is USMCA?

What is USMCA?

As the customs trade compliance world is still trying to come to grips with the fact that NAFTA has ended, USMCA has come into play. The USMCA, also known as CUSMA in Canada and T-MEC in Mexico, is the new North American Free Trade Agreement between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. In this article, we will review the basic requirements of meeting the USMCA eligibility.

For goods to be eligible for the USMCA free trade agreement, the country of origin of goods in question need to be a North American country. For a good to be considered a North American country good, the good needs to meet at least one of the two eligibility requirements.

1. The good was made, mined, manufactured, or grown in a North American country, or
2. The good was Substantially Transformed in a North American country.

Even though the new USMCA agreement (also sometimes called NAFTA 2.0) does not have a specific Customs Form like the previous NAFTA agreement, it does require the importer to have the certificate in hand when declaring the “S” or “S+” SPI indicator to claim duty free privilege under the new Free Trade Agreement. A USMCA certificate needs to have a minimum set of data elements to be valid. These elements include:

1. Indicate who is the certifier:

• Importer
• Exporter
• Producer

2. Certifier information:

• Name
• Title
• Address (including country)
• Telephone Number
• E-mail Address

3. Exporter information” (Not required if Producer is the Certifier and does not know who the Exporter will be)

• Name
• Address (including country)
• Telephone Number
• E-mail Address

4. Producer Information: (If multiple Producers, you can state “Various”; if confidential information, you can state “Available upon request by the importing authorities”)

• Name
• Address (including country)
• Telephone Number
• E-mail Address

5. Importer Information:

• Name
• Address (including country)
• Telephone Number
• E-mail Address

6. Goods Information: (If Certification covers a single shipment, indicate the invoice number related to the exportation)

• Description of goods.
• HS Tariff Classification of goods (up to 6-digit level).

7. Origin criteria information (Article 4.2)

8. Blanket Period

• If certification covers multiple shipments, this period can be up to 12 months.

9. Signature, Date and Statement:

• I certify that the goods described in this document qualify as originating and the information contained in this document is true and accurate. I assume responsibility for proving such representations and agree to maintain and present upon request or to make available during a verification visit, documentation necessary to support this certification.

As seen by the minimum requirements, a USMCA certificate can be provided by the importer, producer, or even the exporter of the goods. The new USMCA agreement is very crucial and essential to the continuity of trade between not just North America, but also global trading countries that interact with North American countries.