Madam Chair, members of the committee, thank you for this opportunity to discuss the temporary use of American-plated vehicles by Canadians.
I'm Mike DeJong with Transport Canada. I would like to take the opportunity to introduce my colleague Mario Demers, who's the Chief of Importation at Transport Canada.
I will briefly describe the current rules that apply to the importation of American-plated vehicles and provide a brief update on measures under way to improve this process.
With respect to the current process, the Motor Vehicle Safety Act allows for vehicles purchased in the U.S. to be imported into Canada if they comply with the Canadian motor vehicle safety standards. These standards set out minimum safety requirements to protect the travelling public, such as lighting and braking requirements and steering controls. The act also allows American-plated vehicles to be imported to Canada if the vehicle complies with the equivalent U.S. standards—the U.S. federal motor vehicle safety standards—and can be updated to comply with Canadian rules.
Both countries' motor vehicle safety standards are very closely aligned, but Transport Canada does have unique requirements in areas with proven safety benefits. For example, the Canadian standards include requirements for daytime running lights, a manual transmission clutch interlock and anti-theft immobilizer equipment.
Transport Canada manages the importation process through the Registrar of Imported Vehicles, or RIV. Under this process, an importer must confirm that their vehicle has no outstanding recalls and submit proof to the RIV before importation. Once in Canada, after paying the RIV fee, the RIV will tell the importer to present their vehicle for a final federal standards inspection. Before the inspection, the importer must make any modifications needed to bring U.S. vehicles into compliance with Canadian requirements.
The RIV is funded through user fees charged to Canadian importers of vehicles brought into the U.S. The fee pays for a series of tasks and services, such as pre-purchase compliance verification, importation documentation, and tracking and final notification to provincial vehicle registration authorities. The RIV also operates seven days a week and operates 500 inspection stations.
In the case of a temporary importation, the current safety regulations provide allowances for vehicles that do not meet Canadian safety standards. For example, these allowances cover circumstances that involve testing vehicles, evaluations or evaluating new safety features. To facilitate tourism and cross-border movement, U.S. citizens are allowed to temporarily import and export U.S. vehicles, including rental vehicles. The same is true for Canadian citizens exporting and importing Canadian licensed vehicles.
Currently, the existing safety regulations do not permit a Canadian citizen to temporarily import a U.S.-registered vehicle into Canada. Rather, the vehicle must be imported on a permanent basis. This is identical to U.S. law, which prevents a U.S. citizen from temporarily importing a Canadian registered vehicle to the U.S.
The federal safety regulations are currently based on an assumption that a Canadian importing a U.S.-registered vehicle is doing so on a permanent basis. Transport Canada recognizes that this is not always the case. As such, the department is working to amend the safety regulations to allow for a temporary importation of U.S. vehicles by a Canadian citizen when it is clear that the vehicle will be returning to the U.S.
These regulatory amendments are under way. As part of these regulatory amendments, there would not be any RIV fees applied to temporary importation of U.S.-plated vehicles into Canada. These proposed amendments were pre-published in the Canada Gazette, part II, on May 19, 2018. Building on this progress, the department is aiming to finalize the amendments and seek final approval, final publication in the Canada Gazette, part 2, by the end of this calendar year 2019. Pending final publication, Canadian citizens would immediately be able to apply to Transport Canada, with no registration fees, for a permit to temporarily import a U.S.-registered vehicle into Canada.
Thank you, Madam Chair.