@cottagewoman wrote:
Does this apply to all crossing the border including commercial carriers, or is it only for individuals without registered commercial vehicles?
We need the guidelines publicly available to determine that. CBSA makes a distinction between what they classify as trade and commerce (think a single business exporting and importing solely commercial goods for their own business) versus transportation (similar but transporting commercial goods for multiple businesses as a commercial carrier). Trips designated as transportation may be treated differently and not effected, I've only spoken to them about trade/commerce activity.
If someone falls into the transportation class I would recommend talking to CBSA about the PHAC memo guidelines and see if this effects their activity. On the BC side Service BC has told me they have fielded numerous complaints from individual importer/exporters as well as truckers (commercial carriers) due to how various guidelines are being interpreted. Those complaints may be more related to provincial checkpoints that have sprung up just past the border re-entry points.
Based on my talks with CBSA this would be a summary for an individual business exporting and importing their own commercial goods, so your typical marketplace or ecommerce seller that transports their own shipments:
Exporting to the US - You have to use the ACE trade system and to use that system you require a vehicle registered with the US NMFTA as a commercial vehicle. That is a US only requirement. If exporting into the US you need to also be importing commercial goods upon reentry into Canada.
Importing only into Canada - Vehicle doesn't need to be registered. If you are not exporting and just want to pick up commercial goods for your business to import back into Canada this is still permitted per CBSA.
If you are solely exporting and importing your own commercial goods and want to continue that activity ensure you always have commercial goods ready for pickup on the US side. That could be something as simple as supplies for your business, a product that you are importing back as a sample as something you may be interested in using in your business, supplier shipments of goods for resale, etc.
Further to this you'll need to be wary of any provincial guidelines. The problem right now is we have enforcement at the provincial level and the federal level as both are interpreting guidelines from multiple government agencies issuing guidance. You may be fine at the border crossing then find out you have an issue upon re-entry into your province at another provincial checkpoint depending on how they are interpreting whatever guidance they have been given. It's a very messy situation at the moment.
