Serial No. 1162: GAC Import Permits Now Mandatory for Chinese EVs — What Changes at the CAD Stage

Permit First, Then CAD

Global Affairs Canada dropped Serial No. 1162 onto the Import Control List on March 1, 2026, covering electric vehicles imported from the People’s Republic of China. The practical consequence: every shipment of subject goods now requires a GAC-issued permit before the CAD can be filed and validated. No permit number in the CAD, no release. This is not a post-release reconciliation item — it blocks the front door.

Global Affairs Canada maintains the Import Control List under the Export and Import Permits Act. The new entry ties permit issuance to annual quota volumes, so when the ceiling is reached, GAC stops issuing permits for that calendar year. If your inbound container arrives after the quota fills, you’re looking at warehouse storage until January 1 or a costly return shipment.

What Falls Under Serial No. 1162

The notice points to Chinese-origin electric vehicles. That language is broad enough to capture fully assembled passenger EVs, light-duty commercial electric trucks, and potentially battery-electric motorcycles depending on the tariff classification. HS chapter 87 is the obvious starting point — 8703.80 for passenger battery-electric vehicles, 8704 for electric goods vehicles — but GAC’s drafting sometimes reaches beyond the six-digit heading if “electric vehicle” appears in the statistical code or product description.

If you’re currently importing any battery-electric road vehicles manufactured in China, verify the scope with GAC before your next sailing. A single misread costs you a refused CAD and multi-day dwell at the Montreal sufferance warehouse while you scramble for the permit.

How to Apply for the Permit

GAC’s permit application portal is CERS — the Canadian Export Reporting System. You’ll need a GCKey or Sign-In Partner credential, and your importer business number must already be on file with GAC. First-time applicants should allow three to five business days for account validation, then another two to four business days for the permit itself once the application is submitted.

Each permit is shipment-specific. That means one commercial invoice, one bill of lading, one permit. If you consolidate two purchase orders into a single container, GAC expects separate permit applications for each PO if the goods are separately invoiced. The permit number gets entered in the “Permits and Licences” section of the CAD at filing time, and CBSA’s validation engine cross-checks it against GAC’s master list. A typo or an expired permit number will bounce the CAD just as fast as a missing one.

Quota allocation is first-come, first-served. If your annual import plan involves steady monthly shipments, front-load your permit applications in Q1 and Q2. Waiting until October to apply may mean the quota is exhausted, and your container sits at the port until the new year.

Where This Hits the Filing Workflow

Most brokers receive the commercial invoice, packing list, and bill of lading forty-eight hours before arrival. Under PARS or eManifest ACI, the cargo control document is transmitted before the conveyance crosses the border, and release-prior-to-payment happens once the CAD is accepted. Adding the permit requirement pushes your lead time back by at least three business days.

The revised sequence looks like this: receive commercial documents, apply to GAC for the permit, wait for issuance, then forward the permit number to your customs broker so the CAD can be filed. If your shipper in Shenzhen books ocean freight on a tight schedule and you don’t start the permit application until the container is already on the water, you’ll miss the PARS window and the shipment will be held for examination or paper release.

For NRI (non-resident importer) arrangements, responsibility for obtaining the permit usually falls on the Canadian consignee or the Canadian-resident broker acting as the importer of record. Clarify that assignment in your NRI agreement. GAC will not issue a permit to a foreign entity without a Canadian business number.

Cost and Penalty Exposure

GAC does not charge a fee for Import Control List permits under Serial No. 1162 as of this writing, but administrative delays translate directly into storage and demurrage. Port of Montreal container free time is typically three to five business days depending on the terminal and the carrier; after that, per-diem charges start. Sufferance warehouse holding fees for an ocean container run between CAD 50 and CAD 85 per day depending on the facility and whether the container is destuffed.

If the CAD is filed without the required permit and CBSA catches it — and the validation engine will catch it — the shipment is refused release and you’re exposed to an AMPS penalty under the Customs Act for non-compliance with an import control measure. Penalties in this category can range from CAD 1,000 to CAD 25,000 depending on prior history and whether CBSA views the omission as negligent or deliberate.

You also lose your release-prior-to-payment eligibility for that transaction. CBSA will demand full payment of estimated duties, GST, and any applicable surtaxes before releasing the goods, which ties up working capital that would otherwise sit in your CARM RPP bond cycle.

Quota Math and Planning

GAC has not published the annual unit ceiling for Serial No. 1162 in the public notice, but quota-based Import Control List entries typically allocate volume by piece count, weight, or dollar value. The permit application will ask for quantity and total customs value, and GAC deducts that volume from the national pool when the permit is issued.

If you’re a regular importer of Chinese EVs — say, a dealership network or a fleet operator bringing in electric delivery vans — build a rolling twelve-month import schedule and submit permit applications in batch at the start of each quarter. That approach smooths your exposure to quota exhaustion and gives you lead time to adjust sourcing if GAC signals that the annual limit is approaching.

For lower-frequency importers, the risk is being blindsided mid-year. Monitor the GAC announcements page or subscribe to the CBSA Customs Notice feed. When GAC announces that a quota threshold has been reached, assume no new permits will be issued for the remainder of the calendar year.

What to Tell Your Shipper

Your Chinese supplier needs to know that every shipment now requires a Canadian government permit before the goods can be released at destination. That means you cannot accept FOB terms where the exporter arranges freight and the container arrives unannounced. Insist on CIF or DDP with a minimum ten-business-day notice before the vessel sails, so you have time to obtain the GAC permit and transmit the number to your broker.

If the shipper pushes back, explain that a container arriving without a valid permit will be held at the port until the permit is issued, and storage costs will be deducted from payment. Most experienced exporters understand Import Control List requirements; if yours does not, send them a copy of the GAC notice and the CBSA Customs Notice reference.

Filing Strategy

Our standard practice for Serial No. 1162 shipments is to request the commercial invoice and packing list as soon as the purchase order is confirmed, submit the GAC permit application before the goods leave the factory, and receive the permit number at least five business days before the estimated arrival date. That window allows time for any GAC queries and gives us a clean path to file the CAD under PARS with release prior to payment.

If you’re working with a trade compliance team that handles both GAC permits and CBSA filings, make sure the permit workflow is hardwired into your SOP. A missed permit is not a minor paperwork error — it’s a refused CAD, a stalled shipment, and a potential AMPS penalty.

We run these sequences daily for controlled imports across multiple product categories. If your next Chinese EV shipment is on the water and you haven’t started the permit application yet, call us today.

Source: CSCB