Mandatory melt and pour reporting for steel imports

Summary#

The federal government published a proposed Order Amending the General Import Permit No. 80 – Carbon Steel that would require steel importers to report the country where the steel was melted and poured when they bring carbon or specialty steel into Canada. The information would be collected by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and used by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) to improve the Steel Import Monitoring Program; the proposal is open for comment for 30 days and, if made, would come into force on November 5, 2024.

What it does#

• Requires importers using General Import Permit No. 80 — Carbon Steel and General Import Permit No. 81 — Specialty Steel Products to give the country of melt and pour (COM) at the time of importation.
• Defines COM as the country where the raw steel was first produced in a molten state and poured into its first solid form (for example, a slab, billet or ingot, or a finished mill product).
• Adds the COM field to the import declaration process through the Single Window (SW) Integrated Import Declaration (IID). The SW IID field has been optional since February 21, 2024; the order would make it mandatory.
• Provides exemptions:
  • Shipments with a total value for duty of $5,000 or less.
  • Certain product types (for example, cold-formed angles and shapes; railway crossing parts; structural parts and plates; non-electrically insulated stranded wire; barbed or fencing wire; and wire nails, tacks, pins, staples).
  • Importers releasing goods under the Customs Self-Assessment (CSA) program are excluded from some reporting steps.
• Keeps the usual customs declaration step of citing the applicable GIP, and continues existing record-keeping requirements.

Who's affected#

• Importers of carbon and specialty steel in Canada — including large firms and small businesses. Most importers (about 93%) already use the SW IID, so many will only need to fill one more field.
• Businesses that buy or use imported steel (manufacturers, construction firms, transportation companies) may notice clearer public data about where steel was melted and poured.
• Global Affairs Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency, which will collect, share and publish the COM information as part of their monitoring work.
• It is unclear from the notice whether any other groups (for example, downstream users outside the steel sector) will be directly affected beyond seeing the published data.

Why it matters#

• The change is meant to give a clearer picture of where imported steel actually originates by tracking where the metal was melted and poured, not just the country of final assembly. That can matter for trade monitoring and policy decisions.
• Publishing COM data should make supply chains more transparent for industry, government and the public. It can help detect import surges or unfair trade practices and support Canada’s commitments under the Canada–U.S. Joint Statement on steel monitoring.
• The government says the burden on importers will be small because the data often already exists on mill test reports and is collected through existing customs channels. The $5,000 exemption and a phased implementation are intended to reduce costs for small businesses.
• This is a proposed order (not yet final). Interested parties had 30 days from publication to comment. If finalized as published, the order would come into force on November 5, 2024.