Exporting to Canada from France: CETA, origin, duties, labels

Most goods made in France now cross the Canadian border duty-free, thanks to CETA, the trade agreement between the European Union and Canada (AECG in French). There’s one condition: your invoice has to carry an origin declaration, with your registered exporter (REX) number once a shipment is worth more than €6,000Source: French customs. Tax is another matter: the importer still pays 5% GSTGoods and Services TaxThe 5% federal sales tax, charged across Canada: the equivalent of French VAT, but added on top of the displayed price. at the border.

What follows applies to French businesses shipping goods to Canadian customers, whether companies or consumers. Services don’t go through customs, so if that’s what you sell, see how to invoice a Canadian client from France. And if you mostly sell online to consumers, the guide to selling online in Canada covers the GST thresholds that apply to e-commerce.

On the Canadian side, customs is federal: the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSACanada Border Services AgencyCanadian customs: it checks travellers and goods on arrival.), the counterpart of France’s DGDDI, collects duties and GST. Labelling rules are a mix of federal and provincial law, and Quebec goes furthest.

Do you pay customs duties when exporting to Canada?

Usually not, if your goods are of EU origin. CETA has applied provisionally since September 21, 2017, and on that day Canada removed duty on 98% of its tariff linesSource: Global Affairs, including 99.6% of the lines for industrial goods. The exceptions are mostly in agri-food, where 91.7% of lines have been duty-free since 2023; sensitive products (dairy, poultry, eggs) are still subject to quotas or the normal tariff.

“EU origin” doesn’t mean “shipped from France”. A product originates in the EU if it’s wholly obtained there, or sufficiently processed there under the rule for its tariff code. A bag assembled in Lyon from imported leather can qualify; a Chinese product repackaged in Marseille can’t. If you assemble parts from Asia, look up the rule for your code on the European Commission’s Access2Markets portal, or ask your freight forwarder or the business support unit (pôle d’action économique) of your regional customs office. You’re the one who signs the declaration, so you’re the one accountable for it.

Without proof of origin, your client pays the Most-Favoured-Nation tariff, Canada’s standard rate of duty. On perfume or shampoo, that’s 6.5% of the valueSource: CBSA; under CETA, it’s zero (Customs Tariff 2026).

How do you prove your goods are of EU origin?

With an origin declaration that you write yourself on the invoice, or on any other commercial document that describes the goods. There’s no EUR.1 certificate and no customs stamp. The wording is set out in Annex 2 of the protocol on rules of origin: the exporter declares that, unless otherwise stated, the products are of EU preferential origin. Copy it word for word from the French customs page on CETA.

• Shipments up to €6,000: any exporter can make the declaration, no number needed.
• Shipments over €6,000: you need registered exporter status, and your REX number has to appear in the declaration. Registration is free and done online through the SOPRANO-REX service on douane.gouv.fr; the number is assigned automatically and never expires.
• Repeat shipments of the same product: one declaration can cover several identical shipments over a period it states, of up to 12 months.

Keep your evidence of origin (supplier invoices, production records) for at least three years: Canadian customs can ask to verify it long after delivery.

Who pays duties and GST: DAP or DDP?

The Incoterm decides, and the choice matters more than it does within Europe. Under DAP (Delivered at Place), you pay to ship the goods to your client, but they’re the importer: they clear the goods under their business number, pay any duty and the GSTGoods and Services TaxThe 5% federal sales tax, charged across Canada: the equivalent of French VAT, but added on top of the displayed price., then claim that GST back as an input tax credit if they’re registered for GST/HSTHarmonized Sales TaxA single tax that combines the GST and the provincial tax, used in Ontario and in the Atlantic provinces, among others.. The same goes for EXW and FCA. For a business client, it’s almost always the simplest option.

Under DDP (Delivered Duty Paid), you’re the importer. Your French company becomes a non-resident importer and has to:

• get a business number (BNBusiness NumberThe 9-digit number the federal government assigns to a business for its tax accounts.) from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRACanada Revenue AgencyThe federal tax authority, the equivalent of France’s Direction générale des Finances publiques.), with an import-export (RM) account; a non-resident business can’t apply for one through the CBSACanada Border Services AgencyCanadian customs: it checks travellers and goods on arrival. portal and has to go through the CRA’s non-resident registration line;
• open an account on the CARM Client Portal (the CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management system), live since October 2024, and enrol as an importer: that’s where duties are declared and paid;
• either pay duties and taxes at clearance or post financial security: since May 20, 2025, goods are only released before payment if you’ve posted securitySource: CBSA;
• hire a Canadian customs broker. The broker files the declarations, but the CARM registration, the delegation of authority and the security all stay in your name. The guide to getting support for a Canadian expansion explains how to choose this kind of provider.

Then there’s the GST. If you aren’t registered for GST/HST, the tax you pay on import becomes a cost to you. The CRA does let you pass the credit on to a registered Canadian customer, though, by giving them the CBSA proof of payment. DDP sales to consumers work differently: the guide to selling to Canada from France explains when you have to register.

For small parcels sent by express carrier, shipments from France worth C$20 or less come in free of duty and taxSource: CBSA; above that, duty and GST apply from the first dollar. The more generous C$40 and C$150 thresholds only apply to goods from the United States and Mexico.

If you ship DDP all year round, you’ll go through these steps with every shipment. A Canadian subsidiary that imports on your behalf makes it much simpler: the guide to incorporating in Canada, subsidiary or branch explains how to set one up.

Example: a shipment of perfume from Grasse to Toronto

Assumptions: a perfume house in Grasse sells a batch of perfume (tariff code 3303.00.00) to a Toronto retailer registered for GSTGoods and Services TaxThe 5% federal sales tax, charged across Canada: the equivalent of French VAT, but added on top of the displayed price./HSTHarmonized Sales TaxA single tax that combines the GST and the provincial tax, used in Ontario and in the Atlantic provinces, among others., invoiced at €20,000 FCA Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle airport, in October 2026. Exchange rate used: C$1.60 to €1, for a value for duty of C$32,000; the CBSACanada Border Services AgencyCanadian customs: it checks travellers and goods on arrival. uses the Bank of Canada rate on the day of shipment. The goods are made in Grasse and meet the rule of origin.

Without an origin declaration, the same shipment would cost your client C$2,080 in duty plus C$1,704 in GST (5% of C$34,080), so C$3,784 instead of C$1,600. The GST comes back; the duty doesn’t. That C$2,080 is a straight loss for your client, who may well take it off their next order. Under DAP nothing changes, since the client is still the importer; under DDP, the figures would be the same, but you’d be the one paying up front.

What are the labelling rules in Canada and Quebec?

At the federal level, the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act requires three things on every prepackaged consumer product: the product name in English and French, the net quantity in metric units, and the name and address of the dealer responsible, which can be in just one language. Directions for use and promotional text don’t have to be bilingual. So a product labelled only in French, perfectly fine in Lyon, can’t be sold as is anywhere in Canada, not even in Montreal: it needs at least its product name in English, apart from a few narrow exceptions (local, test-market or certain imported specialty products). And one labelled only in English needs its name in French.

In Quebec, the Charter of the French Language goes further: everything written on the product, the packaging, the instructions and the warranty must exist in French, and English can appear alongside but never take precedence. Since June 1, 2025, generic or descriptive words attached to an English trademark must also be translated on the product. So design your label in French first, with English alongside, and it will work across the country. The comparison card on the language of business sums up these rules.

What if you export food or cosmetics?

Food falls under the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIACanadian Food Inspection AgencyThe federal agency that controls which foods, animals and plants can be brought into Canada.). Apart from meat and shellfish from approved countries, a French company can’t import food itself: you have to sell to a Canadian importer holding a Safe Food for Canadians licence. The label must be bilingual, with a Canadian-format Nutrition Facts table and, since January 1, 2026, the front-of-package nutrition symbol on products high in sodium, sugars or saturated fat. For wine and spirits, the provincial liquor boards (the SAQ in Quebec, the LCBO in Ontario) are also the ones that buy and import.

Cosmetics must be notified to Health Canada by the manufacturer or importer within 10 days of their first sale in CanadaSource: Health Canada, and since March 2025 the form has required a Canadian address. If you have neither a subsidiary nor an importer, your distributor takes care of it. So for your first shipments, go through a distributor: it spares you both the notification and the customs clearance.