Between September 1 and September 14, 2026, three Canadian customs changes created three different shipment risks for Ontario importers: limited air-courier capacity, higher potential landed cost on specified U.S.-origin goods, and revised tariff treatment for eligible United Kingdom goods. These are not interchangeable problems. Each requires a different review before a shipment is released, accounted for or corrected.
Separate the freight problem from the customs-accounting problem
The September 14 change is operational. Under Customs Notice 26-24, authorized Courier Low Value Shipment participants may use third-party air carriers that are not Partners in Protection certified. CBSA cited air-transportation capacity challenges and limited availability of PIP-certified air carriers as the reason for the flexibility. The CLVS participant itself must retain active PIP certification for air mode, while the third-party carrier must remain bonded and present shipments at the designated sufferance warehouse.
For businesses receiving low-value air-courier shipments in the GTA, including distribution operations serving Mississauga, Toronto or Brampton, this can reduce the chance that an available carrier is rejected solely because it lacks PIP certification. It does not remove the underlying customs-accounting or bonded-warehouse requirements. The change is therefore a capacity workaround, not a general release exemption. Customs Notice 26-24
Use the shipment date to test the U.S. surtax exposure
The September 8 measure is principally a landed-cost and accounting issue. Customs Notice 26-23 states that specified U.S.-origin goods became subject to surtaxes of 15%, 25% or 50% of value for duty, depending on the applicable product and schedule. The measure can apply to commercial and casual imports, including goods routed through another country before entering Canada.
Importers who handle covered goods should first establish origin and then test whether the goods were already in transit to Canada on September 8. Goods in transit on that date are excluded if the importer can prove the status with documents such as bills of lading, cargo-control documents or report-of-entry records. A shipment’s route through a non-U.S. country does not, by itself, resolve the origin question.
Where the surtax applies, the notice identifies these CARM codes: 26186A for 15%, 26186B for 25% and 26186C for 50%. Importers and their customs brokers should compare the commercial documentation, origin evidence, tariff classification and accounting data before release or post-entry correction. Customs Notice 26-23
Review UK entries separately from U.S.-origin shipments
The United Kingdom change has a different direction: it may reduce duty for eligible goods, but it creates a review requirement for entries made during a timing gap. The entitlement to Comprehensive and Progressive United Kingdom Tariff treatment took effect September 1, 2026. The revised T2026-2 Customs Tariff files became available on September 16.
Ontario importers accounting for eligible goods from the United Kingdom, Channel Islands or Isle of Man should review entries made between those dates. The applicable goods must meet the relevant origin requirements, and the importer or broker must use the correct tariff-treatment code and rate. A review is particularly relevant where the entry was prepared before the updated tariff files were available and the treatment was not applied or was coded incorrectly.
This is not the same control as the U.S.-origin surtax review. The U.S. exercise asks whether a specified surtax applies and whether an in-transit exclusion can be supported. The UK exercise asks whether the goods qualify for the new tariff treatment and whether the accounting used the correct code and rate. Customs Notice 26-22
A practical three-track review for current shipments
- Air-courier capacity: If a low-value shipment is moving through an authorized CLVS participant, determine whether the carrier structure relies on the September 14 flexibility. The carrier and warehouse conditions should remain documented.
- U.S.-origin goods: Identify covered products, confirm origin, check the September 8 in-transit position and match any applicable CARM surtax code to the accounting.
- UK-origin goods: For entries from September 1 through September 16, verify eligibility, origin support, tariff treatment and the rate used after the revised files became available.
These tracks can overlap operationally. A courier shipment may still need a surtax review, and a shipment moving by air may also require a tariff-treatment check. The key distinction is that carrier capacity, origin-based surtaxes and preferential tariff treatment are separate controls. Combining them into one generic “delay” or “customs issue” can leave the wrong team reviewing the wrong record.
What Ontario teams should preserve
Importers who may rely on the U.S. in-transit exclusion should retain the transportation and cargo-control evidence that establishes the shipment’s status on September 8. Importers reviewing UK entries should retain the origin and tariff-treatment support used to determine eligibility. Businesses using the CLVS flexibility should ensure that the carrier and sufferance-warehouse arrangements match the conditions described in the notice.
The September developments therefore call for shipment-level triage rather than a single freight-disruption response: confirm the transport channel, test origin and effective dates, then reconcile the customs accounting to the supporting records.