New Year, New Border Enforcement Measures In Effect

On December 31, 2014, the Canada Gazette published an order proclaiming into force sections 2, 5 and 6, subsection 7(6) and sections 43, 44 and 60 of the Combating Counterfeit Products Act, c. 32, S.C. 2014, as of January 1, 2015.  The Act itself received Royal Assent on December 9, 2014.

The principal effect of this order is to bring into force new border enforcement measures intended to combat the importation or exportation of trade-mark or copyright-infringing goods.¹  These measures involve three main features:

• Prohibitions on importation and exportation of infringing copies or goods² under the Copyright and Trade-Marks Acts, respectively, which provide a basis for detention of the goods in question by the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) under s. 101 of the Customs Act;