Mandatory Country of Melt-and-Pour Reporting for Steel

Summary#

The Order Amending the General Import Permit No. 80 – Carbon Steel would require importers using that permit to report the "country of melt and pour" for imported carbon steel. The Canada Border Services Agency began offering an optional field for this on February 21, 2024, and the Order would make reporting mandatory on November 5, 2024.

What it does#

• Requires importers who use General Import Permit No. 80 — Carbon Steel to specify the country where the raw steel was first melted and poured (the "country of melt and pour") at the time of importation, in the form the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) sets.
• Gives a technical definition of "country of melt and pour" (where the steel was first produced in liquid form and poured into a slab, billet, ingot, or finished mill product).
• Keeps certain exemptions:
  • importers under the CBSA’s Customs Self‑Assessment (CSA) arrangement (referred to as a "CSA importer");
  • imports with a total value for duty not exceeding $5,000;
  • several specific product types, including (among others) cold‑formed angles, certain railway track parts, structural plates and rods, non‑insulated wire and cables, barbed/fencing wire, and wire nails/tacks/staples.
• Notes that the CBSA already added an optional COM field to the Single Window Integrated Import Declaration on February 21, 2024; the Order moves that reporting from optional to required for covered imports.
• The Order is tied to Canada’s existing steel import monitoring set‑up (the Steel Import Monitoring Program) and to powers in the Export and Import Permits Act.

Who's affected#

• Importers of carbon steel goods who use General Import Permit No. 80 — Carbon Steel. The background of the notice also discusses similar changes for General Import Permit No. 81 — Specialty Steel Products, but the formal amendments shown in this notice apply to GIP No. 80.
• Small businesses that import low‑value shipments (many are exempt because of the $5,000 threshold).
• Participants in the CBSA’s CSA program (exempted from the new reporting requirement).
• The Canada Border Services Agency and Global Affairs Canada, which will collect and use the new data.
• Customs brokers and other firms that prepare import declarations may need to add this data when it is required.

Why it matters#

• It gives the government and industry clearer information about where imported steel was actually made, not just where the final product was shipped from. That can help detect sudden import surges or shifts in supply chains.
• The extra reporting is designed to be low‑burden: most steel importers already clear goods through the CBSA system that now has a COM field (about 93% were already using that system), and many routine import documents already show mill or mill‑test information.
• Small, low‑value shipments are mostly exempt, so the rule aims to limit costs for small businesses while improving public data.
• Importers who fail to meet permit terms may face penalties under existing customs rules.