"Greg Kanargelidis was exceptional, working well on brainstorming possible legal avenues and ensuring we met all tight deadlines ... He is a trusted adviser who not only identifies legal risks, but also provides valuable insight on practical solutions to business issues."
Chambers – International Trade/WTO – Canada – 2022
Greg Kanargelidis is “among the very best customs specialists in the country” and is “absolutely magnificent for customs and commodity tax issues”.
WWL – Trade and Customs – 2020
Greg Kanargelidis has more than 30 years of experience practicing in the areas of customs, international trade, and commodity tax law. Greg opened his own law practice after a rewarding career at a large full-service firm based in Toronto, Ontario, the last 26 years as a partner and head of the firm’s International Trade Group. Greg is recognized as one of the leading international trade and customs lawyers in Canada and the world.
Greg has extensive experience representing Canadian and foreign clients on global trade and investment matters. He is a noted expert in all areas of customs law, including planning and compliance with respect to all aspects of the importation and exportation of goods and services, such as tariff classification, customs valuation, rules of origin, export and import controls, economic sanctions, marking rules, seizures and ascertained forfeitures, administrative monetary penalties, and voluntary disclosures.
Greg has considerable experience in trade remedy matters, including anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations, inquiries, expiry and interim reviews, and safeguards. Greg regularly appears before the Canadian International Trade Tribunal as well as dealing with the Canada Border Services Agency, among other government departments, on behalf of clients.
Greg regularly represents clients with respect to cross-border trade and investment issues, including compliance with international agreements (such as NAFTA/USMCA/CUSMA, CETA, CPTPP, the World Trade Organization and its various agreements), and other bilateral and regional trade and investment agreements.
Greg also advises clients with respect to the Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax, excise duties and levies, and other commodity taxes.
Greg is very active in legal organizations. He is a member of the Border Commercial Consultative Committee (BCCC) trade compliance and recourse subcommittee, the CITT advisory committee, immediate past chair of the Canadian Bar Association’s Commodity Tax, Customs and Trade Section, as well as a past-chair of the Customs Law committee of the American Bar Association Section of International Law, and of the Ontario Bar Association International Law Section.
Greg is a noted expert in all aspects of customs law. He advises clients on customs duties, taxes and other levies payable on imports. In this connection, he assists clients with planning and structuring import transactions to minimize duties and taxes. He also assists clients with compliance training and policies to ensure compliance. Greg assists clients going through customs audits/verifications and with appeals of any assessments or re-determinations by the Canada Border Services Agency.
Companies involved in international trade who are actively exporting goods, software and other technology must be mindful of Canada’s export controls and economic sanctions law. Greg regularly advises clients on whether their exports require an export permit under Canada’s Export and Import Permits Act, or authorization by other government agencies such as the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. Greg also advises clients on compliance with Canada’s economic sanctions laws, imposed principally through the Special Economic Measures Act, United Nations Act, as well as other statutes.
Foreign companies seeking to offer their products to customers in Canada are often faced with complaints by domestic producers concerning unfair trade due to dumping and/or subsidization by foreign governments. Greg has considerable experience assisting clients through all phases of an anti-dumping or countervailing duty investigation, whether the Canada Border Services Agency’s preliminary and final determinations of dumping/subsidization, reinvestigations, normal value reviews, or the CITT’s preliminary and final injury inquiries, expiry and interim reviews, public interest investigations. Greg also advises clients with respect to other trade remedies such as safeguard inquiries, and the imposition of surtaxes and import quotas.
Canada is a party to many free trade agreements that provide relief from customs duties but also other benefits, both to importers as well as to exporters. Greg assists clients with understanding the rules and taking advantage of the benefits therein. Greg advises on multilateral agreements, such as the World Trade Organization and its various agreements, as well as plurilateral agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and its successor, the United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA), known as Canada United States Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) in Canada, the Canada – European Union Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA), the Comprehensive Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), as well as the many bilateral trade and investment agreements to which Canada is a party.
Canada’s value added sales tax is the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which is charged as the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) in those provinces that have harmonized their provincial sales tax with the GST. Greg advises clients on compliance with the GST/HST and their obligations with respect to registration, tax collection, remittance, GST audits and appeals, as well as voluntary disclosures. Greg also advises clients with respect to federal and provincial excise duties and levies and other commodity taxes.
Greg was named the 2018 and 2016 Toronto "Lawyer of the Year " for International Trade and Finance Law by Best Lawyers. He also received a 2014 Lexpert Zenith Award for excellence and thought leadership in commodity tax/customs. In 2013, he was presented with a Client Choice Award in Trade & Customs - Ontario by International Law Office.
Greg is also recognized as a leading lawyer in the following publications:
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greg@gregklaw.com