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statepopulatedemptyloadingerrorpartialrestrictedcatcheesewinecharcuteriegrocery
Cheese · raw milk · aged 18 months · AOP claimedFrance → Canada · QCChange answersAssessed 2026-09-19
6 of the 6 requirements below are at our beta verification level: read from official sources but not yet reviewed by a customs expert. They are marked on the card.
How verification works
Verdict · France → Canada

Possible, with 6 requirements

Time to first shipment
4–7 weeks
Blocking items
5
Estimated duty
CAD 68,740.00Estimate
Email only for the file. Printable layout, sources included — designed to hand to a broker.
Critical path

To ship by

2026-11-18

you must start by 2026-09-30.

Binding constraint: REX exporter registration. There is still time, but only just.

REX exporter registration
start by 2026-09-30
Safe Food for Canadians licence (importer)
start by 2026-10-28
Bilingual FR/EN label
start by 2026-10-28
AOP attestation for the appellation claim
start by 2026-11-04
Origin declaration on the commercial invoice
start by 2026-11-17
Quota — read this before anything else

Your buyer must hold a CETA cheese allocation. Most don't.

Canada limits duty-free EU cheese to an annual quota handed out to specific Canadian importers. Without an allocation your buyer pays the over-access tariff, which ends the conversation. Confirm it in your first email, not at the border.

On the figures above: quota is still open, but origin is not established — so the over-access rate applies

What you need

6 requirements

5 blocking · 1 recommended
Blocking

REX exporter registration

Your responsibility
Verified against official sources · beta

Why this matters: Without a REX number you cannot make the CETA origin declaration, so your buyer pays full duty instead of 0% — on a CAD 30,000 pallet that is the whole margin.

4–7 weeksNot heldtriggered by origin FR
Source: CETA Protocol on rules of origin, Art. 19; Reg. (EU) 2015/2447 Art. 68 · effective 2017-09-21Report an issue

Origin declaration on the commercial invoice

Your responsibility
Verified against official sources · beta

Why this matters: CETA has no stamped certificate. The prescribed wording on the invoice IS the proof of origin — get it wrong and the preferential rate is refused at the border.

1 dayNot heldtriggered by origin FR
Source: CETA Protocol on rules of origin, Annex 2 (text of the origin declaration) · effective 2017-09-21Report an issue

CETA cheese quota allocation (importer)

Your buyer holds this
Verified against official sources · beta

Why this matters: Canada limits duty-free EU cheese to an annual quota handed to specific importers. Without an allocation your buyer pays the over-access tariff of about 245% — which ends the conversation.

Not heldtriggered by HS 0406.90
Source: Global Affairs Canada, Notice to Importers — CETA cheese TRQ · effective 2017-09-21Report an issue

Safe Food for Canadians licence (importer)

Your buyer holds this
Verified against official sources · beta

Why this matters: The licence sits on the Canadian importer, not on you. If your buyer does not hold one the shipment cannot legally enter — and you find out at the border.

2–3 weeksNot heldtriggered by category cheese
Source: Safe Food for Canadians Regulations, s. 11 (licence to import) · effective 2019-01-15Report an issue

Bilingual FR/EN label

Your responsibility
Verified against official sources · beta

Why this matters: English and French are both mandatory, with the Canadian nutrition-facts format and metric units. Bad labelling is the most common avoidable cause of a rejected food shipment.

2–3 weeksNot heldtriggered by category cheese
Source: Food and Drug Regulations B.01.012; SFCR Part 11 (bilingual labelling) · effective 2019-01-15Report an issue
Recommended

AOP attestation for the appellation claim

Your responsibility
Verified against official sources · beta

Why this matters: You may sell the product without it, but you may not call it by its appellation. The AOP name is most of the price premium, so this is a commercial requirement even though it is not a border one.

1–2 weeksNot heldtriggered by aopDesignation
Source: CETA Annex 20-A (protected geographical indications) · effective 2017-09-21Report an issue
What it costs

Landed cost components

Assumes DAP Montréal, 1,000 kg, CETA preferential origin, Québec destination.
Goods valueCAD 28,000.00
Duty — over-access rate: quota is open, but origin is not establishedCAD 68,740.00Estimate
GST 5%CAD 4,837.00Estimate
QST 9.975%CAD 9,649.82Estimate
Estimated totalCAD 111,226.82Estimate
How we help

If you would rather not do this alone

We can file the REX registration, run the bilingual label review, and assemble the per-shipment document pack. You keep the relationship with your buyer; we handle the paperwork and watch the deadlines.

Talk to trade operations

These are requirements with their sources, not a certification of compliance. Duty and tax figures are estimates. Binding rulings come from the customs authority.

Evaluated 2026-09-19 · ruleset 96e5a8c14f96 · assessment c1853a16b20c — this result is reproducible from these identifiers.