Ground-breaking changes are now in force impacting Canadian export controls and certain activities abroad regarding export controlled goods and technology.

Earlier this month Canada became a State Party to the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), a treaty establishing standards for international trade in a broad range of conventional arms that currently counts more than 100 State Parties. To meet its ATT obligations Canada amended the Export and Import Permits Act (EIPA) and adopted a package of brokering regulations, namely, the Brokering Control List, Brokering Permit Regulations, Regulations Specifying Activities that Do Not Constitute Brokering, General Brokering Permit No 1, and General Export Permit No 47 (ATT Package). This ATT Package came into force on September 1, 2019. Please see our previous publication on the brokering controls and new standards for export and brokering permits here.

The newly-established legislative scheme imposes controls over brokering activities. This is a significant development for Canadian industry as this is the first time such controls have been introduced in Canada. Therefore, anyone involved in international trade in defence goods or technology should review the ATT Package thoroughly, and assess the implications for their business activities. 

- How Did We Get Here?

- Extraterritorial Application

- Definition of Brokering

- Items That Fall Under the Brokering Controls

- The New Substantial Risk Test

- Assessing Substantial Risk

- Mitigating Factors

- Export to the United States

- Implementation

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(c) by  John W. Boscariol, Carmen Francis, Oksana Migitko at McCarthy Tetrault