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Canada is a signatory to the NorthAmerican Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA")with the United States and Mexico, underwhich the world's largest free trade areawas formed. Canada is also a participant inbilateral free trade agreements with severalother countries.North American Free Trade AgreementUnder NAFTA, tariffs and trade barriers ongoods which meet "rules of origin"requirements have virtually disappeared.The rules of origin basically stipulate that forgoods to be traded free of tariffs, thematerials and other components used in themanufacturing of the goods must originatein one of the member countries, and themanufacturing process itself must takeplace in a member country. The rulesprovide for the minimum amount of regionalcontent required to qualify for the tradeexemption, which varies depending on theparticular product.An important point to note is that ownershipof the manufacturer of goods does not affectthe application of NAFTA's rules, meaningthat foreign-owned Canadian businessesare fully eligible to take advantage of theelimination of tariffs under NAFTA, providedthat their goods satisfy the applicable rulesof origin requirements.NAFTA also contains rules governing thecross-border trade in services provided byenterprises located in member countries. Itstipulates that each member must treatservice providers from other membercountries no less favourably than its ownservice providers. Service providers are notrequired to establish a local office orotherwise be resident in a member countryas a condition for the cross-border provisionof a service. However, certain restrictionson cross-border services can be maintainedwhere such restrictions have been listed inan annex to NAFTA.Other Free Trade AgreementsCanada is a participant in bilateral free tradeagreements with Chile, Columbia, CostaRica, Honduras, Israel, Jordan, Panamaand Peru. Canada also has a free tradeagreement with the European Free TradeAssociation, comprised of Iceland,Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.These agreements have eliminated variousbarriers to the trade of goods and servicesbetween the participating countries. As ofwriting, full negotiations with the EuropeanUnion have been completed in the form of aComprehensive Economic and TradeAgreement which was signed October 18,2013, but final ratification is still pending.Finally, Canada currently has on-going freetrade agreement negotiations with manyother countries, including India and Japan.Importing GoodsThe Customs Act establishes a selfassessmentsystem under which all goodsimported into Canada must be reported tothe nearest customs office. The applicableduties are calculated according to theprovisions of the Customs Tariff, which setsout a list of tariff provisions and establishesthe rates of customs duties applicable to thevarious tariff items. It is the importer'sresponsibility to determine and pay theduties on the goods being imported and toreport any errors within three years of theimportation of the goods.Trade and Business Conduct Regulation39