Paul asked:

I am planning to start a company importing cut flowers from India. Please let me know the formalities tariffs and other duties applicable for importing. Also, any other relevant info will be helpful.

CO Staff answered:

As you may suspect, there are a lot of details you'll need to look after to get your import business started. Fortunately, the government has provided some useful guides that can help you identify all of the issues.

The first resource we can recommend to you is Revenue Canada's Guide to Importing Commercial Goods, which you will find online at:
http://www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca/E/pub/cp/rc4041em/rc4041-e.html
This publication offers a step-by-step guide to the commercial import process.

(viewing the file requires the Adobe PDF reader, which you can get online for free here:
www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html#reader)

Also, here is some importing information that relates specifically to florists:
www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca/E/pub/cm/d10151ed/d10151ed.html

The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade also offers an online article, Importing into Canada, which contains information on how to import, how to set up an import business, how to make contacts abroad and conditions for importing. It is not as detailed as the Revenue Canada guide, but it provides a list of contacts for more information:
www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/~eicb/general/impcan-e.htm

 
Here are a some additional resources:

Canadian Importers Association
Suite 1618, Box 60
438 University Avenue
Toronto, Ontario M5G 2K8
E-mail: info@importers.ca

Trade Facilitation Office Canada (TFOC) - a non-profit organization, funded by the Canadian International Development Agency, is designed to help exporters from developing countries and from central and eastern Europe find markets in Canada. Services to qualified importers include:
- access to information on 2,000 exporters from client countries via the TFOC database;
- access to incoming missions of exporters; and
- opportunity to participate in outgoing missions of Canadian importers to client countries.

Canadian importers who wish to tie into these new foreign sources of a variety of products may do so by completing a registration form (Profile Form) at www.tfoc.ca/tfoc/tfoc_database.htm.

(613) 233-3925 or 1-800-267-9674 (in Canada)
www.tfoc.ca/tfoc/about_us.htm

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