“We are launching the Highly Affected Sectors Credit Availability Program to help those businesses hit hardest by the pandemic with low-interest, government-backed loans. By investing in Canada’s businesses, as well as workers and their families, we are investing in our shared recovery and a better future for all.”–The Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade in a Canada.ca News Release, Jan 26, 2021

HASCAP government funding supports all businesses that have experienced a substantial decrease in revenues by at least 50% because of COVID-19.

Qualified small to medium-sized Canadian businesses can receive up to $25,000 to $1 million in HASCAP support loans, and larger organizations with multiple locations, such as restaurants or hotels, can receive up to $6.25 million in government funding.

About HASCAP loans for COVID-19 business support

Administered through the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), the Highly Affected Sectors Credit Availability Program (HASCAP) aims to offer financial assistance to Canadian businesses that have been hit hard by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Applicant eligibility:

Based on the following eligibility criteria established by the Government of Canada, a primary financial institution will determine whether a business qualifies for HASCAP loans:

• An eligible business must be based in Canada, and have been financially stable and viable prior to the current economic situation.
• An eligible business must have received payments either from the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) or the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS) by having demonstrated a minimum 50% revenue decline for at least three months (not necessarily consecutive) within an eight-month period prior to the date of the HASCAP Guarantee application.
• If an eligible business does not qualify for CEWS and CERS, but otherwise meets all HASCAP eligibility criteria, they must provide financial statements that reflect at least three months where their revenue decreased by a minimum of 50% within the eight-month period prior to the date of the HASCAP Guarantee application.

Amount:

An eligible business can apply for a HASCAP loan for each legal entity they own, up to a maximum combined amount of $6.25 million (all legal entities combined).

• Up to $25,000 to $1 million in loans for a single, small to medium-sized business.
• Up to $6.25 million in loans for large organizations with multiple business locations.

Eligible expenses:

HASCAP loans cannot be used to pay or refinance existing debts; the loan will be used exclusively to continue or resume operations by relief of payments relating to:

• Rent payments.
• Employee payroll.
• Any additional costs deemed eligible to sustain business operations.

Thinking about taking your business online during COVID-19 closures? The FITTskills Online E-Commerce Workshop gives you the training you need to get more customers from around the world by offering your products online.

Timeline:

• The HASCAP Guarantee is available until June 30, 2021.
• From a 4% interest rate and a repayment term of up to 10 years.
• Up to a 12-month postponement of principal payments at the start of the loan.

Other COVID-19 government funding support options

There have been dozens of government programs that have launched in support of the relief and recovery of Canadian businesses impacted by COVID-19 restrictions, lockdowns and overall pandemic fatigue.

To learn more about these government funding options offered to assist Canadian businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, please visit the Mentor Works COVID-19 Funding Page.

Mentor Works is a business support organization specializing in Canadian government funding. The Ontario-based business has helped hundreds of businesses build and execute their funding strategy through a mix of federal and provincial government grants, loans, and tax credits. Mentor Works offers free online resources, funding webinars, and news via their website at www.mentorworks.ca.

The post Highly Affected Sectors Credit Availability Program: COVID-19 support loans appeared first on Trade Ready.

1. FTA

If you are navigating the waters of international trade, you are sure to study up on FTAs. Free Trade Agreements are trade deals entered into by two or more countries to ease the passage of goods across borders. Exploring FTAs will lead you to even more acronyms, including NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership), EFTA (European Free Trade Association) and USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement), among others.

2. FTZ

An FTZ — foreign trade zone or free trade zone — is a location, usually near a port of entry, that is considered outside a country’s trade boundaries. Goods that are stored within an FTZ do not have to go through customs. FTZs have a variety of uses for businesses that are trading internationally.

3. CPB and CBSA

Depending on where you’re trading to and from, you will be working through U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) and/or Canada Border Services Agencies (CBSA). These are the agencies responsible for the safety of their respective country’s borders, giving them an active role in overseeing imports and exports.

4. ECCN and CCI

If you are dealing in exporting from the United States or Canada, you will be concerned with your goods’ ECCN or CCI. In the United States, exports must have an ECCN, an Export Control Classification Number. In Canada, exports must have a Canada Customs Invoice.

5. C of O

A Certificate of Origin (C of O) is a document that verifies where an item originated. Many countries require Certificates of Origin for an import entering through customs.

6. DPS

Nearly every country has a list, or rather several lists, of people or organizations they prohibit trade with. Within every country, there are usually several governing bodies with separate lists of people they forbid trade with, and these lists are constantly changing. To avoid illegally trading with a denied party, most organizations employ Denied Party Screening (DPS), a method for constantly checking trade partners against denied parties lists.

7. ECMP

Tariffs, trade restrictions, denied parties — businesses who import and export globally have a lot of regulations to deal with. For that reason, its recommended that all importers and exporters have an Export Management Compliance Program (EMCP). A documented ECMP provides a solid framework that helps companies stay within trade regulations, and it can be a protecting document should the company ever be audited for compliance with trade regulations.

8. SLI

If you’re exporting goods, your Shipper’s Letter of Instruction (SLI) tells your shipping company what is expected to happen with your exports. It also provides them with all of your company’s contact information and any of the shipment’s documentation, should it be needed.

9. CM and CF

When dealing with the international shipping of goods, you will have to be able to quantify the physical size of your boxes, pallets and shipping containers. Cubic Meters (CM) and Cubic Feet (CF) are commonly used to describe the volume of shipments. For larger shipments, a typical cargo shipping container is Twenty Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs).

10. NTB

Tariffs, denied parties and other trade regulations often occupy the time of trade organizations. Those are the only aspects of trade to be concerned with. In some areas, trade organizations also will deal with Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs). NTBs refer to any trade restriction that goes beyond the usual tariffs or custom regulations.

When it comes to the many acronyms involved in international trade, it seems that it would take a special course of study to master them all. While the acronyms are many, they will become second nature to anyone who works in the international trade industry after some time and practice.

The post Your guide to 10 common global business acronyms appeared first on Trade Ready.