If your company has any customers in Canada or Mexico, or if you
have domestic customers that ship to one of those two countries,
you’ve probably been asked for a NAFTA Certificate of Origin. And
depending on how much money these Canadian or Mexican customers can
save in duties under NAFTA, the requests may be frequent and
strongly worded.

Keep in mind, however, that not all products qualify for NAFTA. That
includes goods that are manufactured or produced in Canada, Mexico
or the United States. Before you can determine whether or not your
products qualify for reduced duties under NAFTA, you must understand
the NAFTA Rules of Origin, you must know and document the origin of
each of the components of your products, and you must know and
document where your products were finished.

Don’t think this is important? If you provide someone with a NAFTA
Certificate of Origin and you can’t provide documentation that your
goods qualify, your company – and the person who signed the NAFTA
Certificate – are at the mercy of U.S. Customs and Border
Protection, which can penalize you thousands of dollars per
violation.

You and your company can’t take chances with your NAFTA program.
That’s why International Business Training (IBT) is offering a
series of lunch-time webinars that let you participate from your
desktop computer in live, two-hour presentations on the fundamental
elements of NAFTA that are important to successfully managing the
program:

- Understanding the Tariff Classification Process for Free Trade Agreements(Tuesday, December 1, 2009)

- NAFTA Rules of Origin
NAFTA Rules of Origin (Wednesday, December 2, 2009)

- Completing the NAFTA Certificate of Origin (Thursday, December 3, 2009)

- Managing Your NAFTA Program (Friday, December 4, 2009)

Each two-hour session is held twice a day so both east coast and
west coast attendees can participate over their lunch hours. Of
course, if you’ve already got lunch plans, we don’t mind if you
register for the other session that day.