---

CANADA-AUSTRALIA CUSTOMS PACT SIGNED

AUSTRALIA-CANADA'S LATEST PARTNER IN CUSTOMS MUTUAL ASSISTANCE AGREEMENT

Since 1979, Canada has been putting together a web of Customs Mutual Assistance Agreements (“CMAAs”) with a number of trading partners, including the US, Mexico, UK, EU, Israel, China, Korea, Chile, and Argentina.  Australia recently became the 15^th nation to agree to a CMAA with Canada, and we discuss below how these protocols allow Canada to tighten its enforcement on goods coming into Canada from foreign lands.

Customs Mutual Assistance Agreements

The Canadian Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) negotiates and implements CMAAs to enhance its abilities to investigate, detect, and prevent customs violations, smuggling, and trade-related crimes.  Under a CMAA, the CBSA shares customs information like advance shipment data, risk profiles, and investigative findings in real-time with foreign partners.

CMAAs enhance border security and are billed as increasing customs efficiency, but they have downsides as well.  For some trusted traders they may hasten the customs clearance process, but they can make life harder for others.  By allowing the CBSA to share information with its counterparts on the other end of international shipments, CMAAs ultimately increase scrutiny on shipments between signatories, which can add hassle for both importers and exporters.

For example, the new CMAA will allow for the CBSA and the Australian Border Force (“ABF”) to initiate joint audits of individual traders.  During such an audit, both CBSA and ABF will cooperate to review import/export records and share information. This should help better detect customs frauds.  Presumably, though, cooperating with two customs agencies instead of just one will pose additional challenges for those audited.

The New Canada-Australia CMAA

This new CMAA with Australia is the most recent development in Canada’s ongoing strategy to expand trade with the Indo-Pacific region.  Since 2018, Canadian-Australian merchandise trade has increased every year, totalling $6.1 billion in 2024.

The Canada-Australia trade relationship is hugely beneficial to both countries but, as with any international trade network, rogues have sought to exploit it for illicit purposes.  Just this month, CBSA made one of its largest drug seizures ever when it intercepted 560 kilograms of narcotics concealed in a shipment of car parts destined for Australia.  The CMAA will help combat such criminal behaviour, hopefully without too much additional hassle for lawful traders. 

The new CMAA was signed by the heads of the CBSA and ABF on November 19, 2025.  It will likely be in force soon.

Takeaways

Canada has been working on expanding its web of Customs Mutual Assistance Agreements, allowing the CBSA to share customs information with our major trade partners. Soon, Australia will be another node in that network.

These CMAAs give CBSA the ability to more effectively enforce customs and trade rules, and importers – whether casual travelers or seasoned commercial importers – can expect greater scrutiny because of it.

When CBSA comes knocking, getting a Customs & Trade lawyer involved is advisable.

For help with Customs and Trade issues, please click here.

Download a PDF copy of this Blog here.