Bill C-251, An Act to amend the Customs Act and the Customs Tariff (forced labour and child labour), proposes changes to both Acts. It would create a presumption that certain goods were made using forced or child labour, and require customs officers to detain those goods until satisfied their import is not prohibited. Its stated goal is to address imports linked to forced or child labour.
The presumption would apply to goods made wholly or partly in a country or area later designated as a subject of concern, or by an entity later placed on a list. The bill does not itself designate any country or list any entity.
An importer could rebut the presumption by meeting prescribed supply-chain monitoring and management requirements, providing prescribed certification or information, showing prescribed due diligence, and satisfying the customs officer that the goods are not prohibited.
The Governor in Council could designate countries or areas and establish an entity list, on the required recommendations and where there are reasonable grounds to believe forced or child labour is involved.
The Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness could update entity names or remove an entity in specified circumstances. The Minister must review each listing after five years and every five years after that, and recommend whether the entity should remain listed.
The bill would authorize regulations on supply-chain tracing and management, certification procedures and time limits, importer diligence, and required information.
Importers: If goods fall within a later designation or listing, a customs officer would have to detain them until satisfied they are not prohibited. An importer seeking to rebut the presumption would have to meet all the bill’s conditions. The bill does not set those requirements itself; regulations could do so.
Customs officers: They would have a duty to detain the covered goods until satisfied they are not prohibited. The bill does not set a decision deadline or an appeal process.
Federal government: The Governor in Council could make designations and establish the entity list. The responsible minister would have the stated powers to update or remove entries and a duty to review listings every five years.
People buying goods: The bill does not directly change consumer rights, impose a consumer fee, or ban goods generally. Its proposed import restrictions would apply to goods covered by a designation or listing and the related presumption.
These are proposed changes, not provisions in force. The supplied material does not state the bill’s current status or a start date. The Customs Act and Customs Tariff texts were not supplied, so the existing law’s full rules and how these changes would interact with them could not be verified.
The bill would require customs officers to detain covered goods, but gives no estimate of staffing or other government costs.
Importers may have costs to trace supply chains, take required measures, and provide certifications or information. The bill gives no estimate; regulations could set the details.
The bill creates no stated fee, fine, tax, or funding amount.
No country, area, or entity is named, and the bill does not automatically place any on a list.
The bill allows regulations to set key requirements, but those regulations and their standards are not supplied.
The meanings of “forced labour” and “child labour” are incorporated from another Act, whose text was not supplied. Their exact scope could not be checked.
The bill does not set notice, decision timelines, or an appeal process for importers whose goods are detained or whose evidence is not accepted.
It does not say how designations or listings would interact with existing import rules or programs.
The bill appears intended to make it harder to import goods linked to forced or child labour in designated places or from listed entities.
A presumption could give customs officers a basis to detain covered goods while their admissibility is assessed.
Importers could rebut the presumption by providing evidence and meeting prescribed requirements, rather than facing an automatic prohibition in every case.
Regular five-year reviews could allow an entity to be removed if the basis for listing no longer exists.
Importers could face detention and supply-chain evidence requirements even though the bill does not specify the standards, time limits, or review process.
The bill gives the Governor in Council and the minister significant roles in designating places and listing or removing entities, but the supplied text does not set out a process for affected importers or entities to challenge decisions.
Because key requirements would depend on future regulations, the bill itself does not show how much work or cost compliance would involve.