[sdiy] Shipping PCB's overseas -- Canada

[David Cornutt]

On Friday, January 23, 2004, at 12:55  AM, Colin Hinz wrote:
>>
>
> The thing is, everything coming into Canada is subject to a "Goods and
> Services Tax" (GST, similar to VAT). This is imposed at the federal
> level, and there are provincial taxes heaped upon that. Here in Ontario
> the total damage is 15%.
>

I apologize in advance for going OT here, folks, but all this
discussion about N. American customs has got me wondering...

What the hell happened to NAFTA?  I thought it was supposed to eliminate
duties on goods crossing the US-Canada border.  And I'm not picking
on Canada specifically because I know this kind of thing happens on
stuff going the other way too.

Are the customs people slapping charges on stuff that is supposed to
be duty-free?

Have the governments found weasel-worded ways to tax the goods
without it being considered "duty" as such, hence dodging the NAFTA
rules?

(And for our European friends: is there something comparable in Europe?
Do goods move freely across borders between the EU countries, or are
the countries finding devious ways to levy duties anyway?)