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Understanding CUSMA Certification with Chit Chats

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At Chit Chats, our goal is to make sure your shipments move smoothly and compliantly through U.S. Customs. We know you may see different approaches in the market when it comes to CUSMA (Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement) certifications, so we want to explain how our process works, why it matters, and what to expect.

How the Chit Chats Process Is Different

We take extra steps because we want your shipments to pass through U.S. Customs as quickly and smoothly as possible:

✅ Proper Certification: We require a complete CUSMA certification form–not just a placeholder.
✅ Broker Review: Our broker has a dedicated approval team that will check your documentation for correct formatting and readability (ex., ensuring SKUs look like SKUs, and HTS codes are entered with all 10 digits).
✅ Risk Mitigation: Extra care from processing teams reduces the chance that your shipments are turned around or delayed if flagged for review.

What the CUSMA Certification Actually Does

As per our broker, the CUSMA certification form provides documentation on your claimed:

  • CUSMA-certified SKUs
  • CUSMA-certified HTS codes
  • CUSMA-certified country of origin (COO)
  • Manufacturer information

Important: 

The onus is on you, the shipper, to confirm your items are CUSMA-eligible. If you’re unsure about your shipments, we encourage you to review our CUSMA resources here and speak with a licensed customs broker for guidance.

Should CBP determine your shipment is not CUSMA-eligible, you will be subject to the appropriate tariffs as well as potentially additional punitive administrative fees from CBP as documented here: https://www.cbp.gov/trade/programs-administration/penalties

Accuracy and honesty in your submission are critical: CBP may later request documentation and can reject or question a shipment if the certification does not align.

Why Do We Need Broker Approval?

Our broker’s team ensures that:

  • Your certification details are properly formatted so the information can be parsed and stored.
  • Each field (SKU, HTS, COO, manufacturer) is readable and structured in a way that can be seamlessly provided to CBP if requested.

This step may feel like an extra hurdle, but it’s essential to reducing risks down the line.

What Happens When CBP Requests It?

If CBP requests proof of CUSMA eligibility, the broker is legally required to provide your CUSMA certification within 24 hours. From there:

  • CBP can reject a shipment if it doesn’t appear on the certification or if the information seems incomplete.
  • CBP may request additional details or supporting documents.
  • CBP can ultimately determine that a shipment is not CUSMA-eligible, even if it passed the broker review.

This is why we require such a high level of detail that some competitors may not, it helps ensure you are prepared if CBP scrutinizes your shipment.

Why Does Chit Chat’s CUSMA Certification Process so long?

Our process typically takes up to 72 hours. Chit Chats doesn’t just store your certificate as submitted:

  • Your submission is verified for completeness and readability, so it can be seamlessly provided to CBP for final review and approval with the least amount of issues.
  • While other processes may seem faster, they often skip this validation, leaving you exposed to potential delays, rejections and punitive fees later.

Why Do We Ask for SKUs?

CBP may request SKU-level detail. If your shipments contain items not listed on your certification, CBP can reject or delay them. We require accurate SKU information up front to protect your business.

What You Can Expect

  • We aim to provide the smoothest path through customs during the most uncertain times.
  • We cannot guarantee there won’t ever be complications, but our process is designed to minimize issues and keep your business moving forward.
  • Our approach is informed by professional advice, legal research and backed by industry partnerships.

The Bottom Line

We know our process can feel slower than some competitors, but it’s designed with one priority:
To protect your business from costly delays, rejections, duties and/or penalties.

In short, we take the extra care now so you don’t pay the price later.

FAQs – click to expand

What about those of us who are CUSMA compliant and don’t want to pay DDP because we are exempt from duties?

If your item meets CUSMA requirements, then you will still use a DDP postage option, but you wouldn’t see any duties applicable (no tariffs). There will, however, be a merchandise processing and shipment items fee. To see preferential duty-free for CUSMA a certification approval process is required.

I saw Etsy is suggesting we ship with Chit Chats or Shipstation instead of Canada Post because you guys have pre-paid tariff systems coming into place. My question is if we fall under CUSMA, Etsy doesn’t give us customer phone numbers so how do we fill that info in?  Wondering if you know since they’re suggesting working with you for shipping!

  • If you are referring to CUSMA certification, only your phone number would be required for certification. 

Is there anything required from the end recipient to get the preferential treatment under CUSMA or can I as the seller complete everything required on my end for no disruption to my customer?

  • There is nothing that the recipient is required to do, as everything will be approved before the shipment crosses the border. Any potential duties and fees will be paid before crossing the border (at the time of postage purchase).

Do I need to submit CUSMA certification form electronically and place it on the package? 

  • You will need to send a CUSMA certification form one time before your first shipment.  It will only need to be done once per year – however you will need to resubmit for any additional SKUs/HTS and it would need to go through the approval process again before you can ship those additional SKUs/HTS.
  • It is optional to attach it to the package, though doing so wouldn’t hurt.
  • Understanding the rules of origin under the CUSMA
  • CUSMA compliance support line at 1-833-760-1167

Can I use a form that I have created or from another carrier like UPS or FedEx for example? The rules for CUSMA do not specify any particular form to be used, only that certain details be provided.

  • If you have used a CUSMA form through another shipping provider you still must submit the necessary information with Chit Chats through our form as we need to obtain approval through our customs broker.
  • Once approved you account will be updated to show preferential duty-free treatment based on the SKU.

How long will the CUSMA certification approval process take?  Will the approval process for CUSMA eligible products delay the shipments to be delivered to the customer?

  • For CUSMA eligibility we anticipate a turnaround of 72 hours however this is a new process and we will update you should this change
  • Since shipment information will be processed by our broker for approval it is best to ensure that all shipment information is accurate to prevent any delays (i.e. manufacturer information).

Are you expecting one CUSMA form for the declaration period of one year, or one CUSMA form for every order?

  • Approval for each SKU and it will be valid for one year.
    • If you are looking to ship additional CUSMA SKUS/HTS in your product portfolio you will need to submit approval before being able to ship any new products under CUSMA.
  • CUSMA validation is per SKU/item and not per package.
    • Example: (i.e. handcarved heads, sewn clothing, etc) so then for the CUSMA certification you would submit for each SKU and it would be valid for one year.
  • Every SKU eligible for CUSMA will need approval by broker before being provided duty-preferential/free treatment.
  • SKUs and HTS approval are tied to the unique Chit Chats client.

For CUSMA, all of the items I sell are handmade and don’t have SKUs. How do we go about creating that?

  • A SKU, or Stock Keeping Unit, is a unique alphanumeric code that businesses use to identify and track their inventory. You will need to create a SKU (unique identifier) if you do not have already.
  • You can choose your own SKUs, and use them on our platform during the shipment creation process. If you have a connected storefront like Etsy or Shopify, you can enter your SKU on your product listings and they will be imported automatically with your shipment items.

SKU number can a book ISBN be used or should it be specific to our company such as inventory number?

  • You can use either number for a SKU as it is specific to your product and selling platform.

Does every colour variation require a unique SKU? Or can one SKU cover all colour options?

  • At this time colour variations will require a unique SKU per colour. Since approval is determined by the product the broker requires to approve all variations to ensure compliance with US Customs.
  • We are determining if this would also apply to different sizes and variations on products – more to follow once we have confirmation from our broker.

For the SKU line items, if we have something in different sizes, but it’s the same item/HTS code, can those all go on one line item? e.g. 3 x t shirts, one XL one S one M, can all 3 still be listed on the same line (assuming we give them one umbrella SKU)?

  • That is correct.

Can we ship a package that has some CUSMA eligible products, plus a few non-eligible items? So we pay for duties on only the non-eligible items?

  • Yes, your shipment can contain a mix of products from different countries of origin, with different HTS Codes, and our platform will calculate the duties accordingly.However you will need to pay the applicable duties/taxes for non-CUSMA shipments.