Importing from Canada: UK Duty Rates, TCA and Rules of Origin

Does the UK have a trade deal with Canada?

Yes, but not a purpose-built one. The UK-Canada Trade Continuity Agreement (TCA) took effect on 1 April 2021. It is a rollover of CETA — the EU-Canada agreement the UK was party to as an EU member — reproduced on a bilateral basis so trade did not fall off a cliff after Brexit.

The intention was always that this would be temporary, replaced by a bespoke UK-Canada agreement negotiated from scratch. Those negotiations were paused in January 2024 without agreement, with disagreements over agricultural access — cheese quotas and the treatment of hormone-treated beef in particular — the sticking points. As of 2026 the rollover agreement remains what governs your imports.

What duty rates apply to Canadian goods?

These are indicative and the rate for your specific commodity code may differ. Confirm against the HMRC Trade Tariff or run the product through the LandedHQ calculator before you price a shipment.

The cumulation change that catches importers out

This is the single most important thing to understand about Canadian imports right now, and it is poorly signposted.

Under CETA, and carried into the UK-Canada rollover, materials originating in the EU could be treated as originating when assessing whether a Canadian product met the rules of origin. That mattered enormously in practice: Canadian manufacturing is deeply integrated with both US and European supply chains, and many Canadian products only passed the origin test because EU inputs counted in their favour.

That provision was time-limited. It expired on 31 March 2024 and was not renewed, because the bespoke negotiations that would have addressed it had been paused two months earlier.

The practical consequence: a Canadian product that qualified for 0% duty in 2023 may not qualify today, with no change whatsoever to how it is made. Nothing about the product moved — the rule underneath it did.

How to claim TCA preference

Like most modern agreements, the UK-Canada TCA uses self-certification. There is no EUR.1 certificate and nothing to obtain from a Canadian government office.

Origin declaration

Your Canadian supplier adds a declaration to the commercial invoice or another commercial document, using the prescribed wording set out in the agreement. It must identify the goods clearly enough to be traceable to the shipment, and it must be signed or otherwise attributable to the exporter. A declaration can cover a single shipment or multiple shipments of identical goods within a 12-month period.

Importer's knowledge

You claim on evidence you hold yourself — production records, bills of materials, supplier declarations. This shifts the entire burden of proof onto you. It is a reasonable option where you have genuine visibility of the manufacturing process and a bad one where you are buying through an intermediary.

Rules of origin under the TCA

The origin rules follow CETA's structure. A product is Canadian if it is wholly obtained there, produced entirely from originating materials, or has been sufficiently transformed to satisfy the product-specific rule for its heading. Those rules use the familiar tests — a change of tariff classification, a maximum percentage of non-originating material, or a required manufacturing process.

Two features are worth knowing:

• Bilateral cumulation with the UK still applies. UK-origin materials count as originating in Canada and vice versa. That survived; it was only the EU cumulation that lapsed.
• Textiles and apparel have origin quotas. Certain clothing categories can qualify under more relaxed origin rules up to an annual volume limit. Once the quota is used, the standard rule applies for the rest of the year, so timing within the calendar year can affect your duty.

Import VAT on Canadian goods

Customs duty is usually 0%, so import VAT at 20% is where the cost sits. It is charged on the customs value plus any duty plus freight and insurance to the UK border — not on the invoice value alone.

VAT-registered importers should use postponed VAT accounting, which lets you account for the VAT on your return rather than paying it at the border and waiting to reclaim it. It has to be indicated correctly on the customs declaration to apply. See our guide on import VAT versus import duty for how the two interact.

Three categories with extra requirements

• Timber and wood products — subject to UK Timber Regulation due diligence. You need documented evidence that the timber was legally harvested, including species, country of harvest and supplier details. This applies to the importer, not the exporter, and enforcement is real.
• Seafood — lobster, crab and finfish require a validated catch certificate to demonstrate the catch was not illegal, unreported or unregulated. Live and chilled shellfish also need health certification and must enter through an approved border control post.
• Food and agricultural goods — products of animal origin need export health certificates and pre-notification. Canadian beef faces the additional constraint that hormone-treated beef cannot be imported into the UK at all, which is precisely the issue that stalled the bespoke negotiations.

Practical tips for importing from Canada

• Re-verify origin declarations dated before April 2024 — this is the highest-value thing you can do, and most importers have not done it.
• Watch for US content specifically — Canadian manufacturing is heavily integrated with the US, and US materials have never counted as originating under this agreement. A product assembled in Ontario from American components may well not be Canadian for customs purposes.
• Verify the commodity code yourself — Canadian suppliers quote codes from Canada's own tariff schedule, which matches the UK only to six digits.
• Check textile quota status before shipping — if you rely on the origin quota for apparel, the position in November is different from the position in February.
• Currency — trade is usually invoiced in CAD or USD. HMRC converts at its own published monthly rate, not the rate your bank applies on settlement.

Frequently asked questions

How much is import duty from Canada to the UK?

For most goods, 0%. The TCA removes duty on the large majority of industrial and manufactured products, provided they meet the rules of origin. Agriculture is the main exception, with several categories limited to tariff quotas. Import VAT at 20% still applies on top of the customs value, duty and freight.

Why did my Canadian supplier's goods stop qualifying for 0% duty?

Most likely the expiry of EU-content cumulation on 31 March 2024. The agreement originally let EU-origin materials count as originating when testing whether a Canadian product qualified. That provision lapsed and was not extended after bespoke trade talks were paused. Products that depended on EU inputs to pass the origin test may now fail it, with no change to the product itself.

Do I need a certificate of origin for goods from Canada?

No government-issued certificate is needed. The agreement uses an origin declaration made by the exporter on the invoice or another commercial document, using prescribed wording — or you can claim under importer's knowledge on evidence you hold. Keep the documentation for at least four years; HMRC can check a preference claim retrospectively and the duty falls on you, not the exporter.